Salaries of up to 120,000 ALL per month bring back the emigrating joiners, but increase furniture prices by 15%

2023-09-19 08:01:00, Aktualitet CNA

Salaries of up to 120,000 ALL per month bring back the emigrating joiners, but

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The acute problem of the labor force is already present in all sectors of the economy.

Although many manufacturing and service companies have started looking at foreign employment opportunities, especially from Dubai recruitment companies, some of them claim that they have started to fill the vacant positions of human resources with the departed specialists who are returning.

Dritan Cacaj, the head of the joinery "Trin Mobileri" said earlier that from September 2022 the sector suffers from a lack of labor force. For this reason, an employment agency was approached to recruit 10 employees from Egypt with similar experience in their country for wood processing.

Cacaj claims for Monitor that he did not hire the number of foreign employees anticipated, as he filled the workforce shortage with wood processing specialists returned from emigration.

"We have hired 11 employees, local wood processing specialists who have returned from emigration. "They are mostly single emigrants in Germany, who had their families in Albania, and another category is the emigrants without documents in England who have returned them to the country," he asserted.

Cacaj adds that the number of returnees is still small compared to the sector's demand for employment. According to him, the salary increase to the level of up to 120,000 lek per month for woodworking specialists and up to 80,000 lek per month for semi-specialists is one of the main reasons that will guarantee the non-departure of local employees.

While the prices of raw materials have normalized by returning to the levels before the Covid-19 pandemic, the increase in production costs up to 25% only from the increase in wages, according to the representative of "Trin Mobileri", has increased the prices of furniture up to 15%. Despite the increase in prices, the demand for furniture remains high.

Unlike the furniture manufacturers, waiting for employees from Egypt is the transport of imported goods. The trucking company "Balkan Trans Albania" stated that due to emigration, 50% of the workforce is missing, while discussions continue with foreign recruiting companies from Dubai to review employment opportunities from foreign countries.

Representatives of the sector claim that the minimum salary of truck drivers in Albania ranges from 500 to 600 euros, while the maximum starts from 1,000-1,500 to 2,000 euros, but the sector is in a real inability to hire local truck drivers, as most have left for Germany. Salaries for truck drivers in Europe start from 2,000 euros./ Monitor magazine