Wage Tendency in Albania; The Reaction to the Global Economic and Financial Crisis

Wage of both public and private sectors is a very important source of incomes for most of the population in Albania. The importance of public sector wage policy exceeds the sector's actual share of total employment, because the level of wages in this sector is, to a certain extent, a point of reference for wages in the private sector, too. During the first transition years the wages of a great number of the employees, whose enterprises had stopped being operational, were practically a form of social support. The data for this paper are gathered from all the surveys done on wages during transition from the public sources and the institute of statistics. From these data results that the wages have increased recurrently, first of all to counter the inflationary effects and to provide a better remuneration to the employees in both sector, despite the global financial crisis. This is due to the lack of full integration in the global markets. In this paper we discuss about the wage tendency in Albania as a country in further development, exposed to the risks of the global financial crisis, and the reaction to the difficulties encountered while the country is preparing for the EU integration.