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University "isn't worth it"/ Over 80% of job vacancies in 2024 did not require educational skills

2025-11-28 07:22:34, Sociale CNA

University "isn't worth it"/ Over 80% of job vacancies in 2024

Last year, nearly 80 percent of job vacancies announced by the National Employment Agency (a public mediation entity) were for jobs with elementary education.

According to official data, during the period January-December 2024, 61,624 job vacancies were announced, or 1% more than the same period a year earlier, but the vast majority of them are for professions that do not require qualified education.

Specifically, elementary occupations account for 27.2% of the advertised positions, while sales and service workers account for 18.9%, industrial workers for 11.7%, and craftsmen for 23%. These four categories account for almost 80% of the total job vacancies, indicating that market demand in Albania continues to be concentrated in jobs that require little or no advanced vocational education.

The most in-demand occupations in 2024 were for positions such as production workers, warehouse workers, cleaners, salespeople, waiters, service operators, and auxiliary workers in the construction or manufacturing sectors. The work in these occupations is often physical, with relatively low wages, and with working conditions that require flexibility and stability.

This distribution shows that the structure of the labor market in the country remains oriented towards sectors with low productivity and manual labor, while positions requiring higher education or specialized skills, such as managers, specialists or technicians, occupy a much smaller percentage.

The economic sectors that announced the most job vacancies were the processing industry with 28.6% of total requests, accommodation and food service with 17.8% of total requests, wholesale and retail trade and other service activities with 28% respectively, and construction with 9.4% of the vacancies announced.

Compared to a year ago, there is a decrease of about 5% in vacancies announced by entities related to the processing industry and an increase of about 4% in VLPs announced by the Accommodation and Food Service sector, thus reflecting the dynamics of the labor market from production to services. This reflects the lack of transformation towards an economy based on knowledge and technology, indicating that the challenge of moving towards more qualified professions still remains great.

The structure of the labor market is shifting from manufacturing to services, but in professions that do not require high educational skills. Data processed by international financial institutions show that Albania has produced less employment for qualified workers than developing countries in Southeast Europe in the last two decades.

Employment has been increasing, but this increase is not benefiting educated people, but rather those with basic skills./ Monitor.al