Vocational training/Albanians with the lowest level

2023-11-29 08:38:00, Sociale CNA

Vocational training/Albanians with the lowest level

Illustrative photo

Now, when technology is changing the approach to professions, updating knowledge in all areas is needed to adapt to innovations.

The digital age in which we are living requires continuous training throughout life, but Albania is also poorly represented in this indicator compared to the region and countries in transition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Comparative data from the European Training Foundation (ETF) show that, in 2022, only 0.7% of the population aged 25-64 had participated in a treatment related to updating knowledge.

This was the lowest regional level, since in Serbia almost 6% of this age group attend training, in Montenegro 3.2%, in North Macedonia 2.5% and in Bosnia 1.8%. In the European Union, more than 11% of the population aged 25-64 participated in training in 2022.

ETF, the link of the European Commission to develop human capital skills also in candidate countries, considers lifelong learning important in the context of technological and demographic developments.

The 25-64 age group in our country suffers from large deficits in education. Data from the ETF show that in 2020, nearly 53% of the population over 15 had only primary education. The low level of education in the working-age population is not becoming an impetus for improving skills in the future.

Internal data show that the costs that Albanian businesses pay for the professional growth of employees are low and, moreover, are decreasing, at a time when high emigration and declining birth rates are rapidly depleting the labor force.

An INSTAT survey reported that the costs for professional training decreased in 2020 compared to 2016 by 19-90% depending on economic activities.

In 2020, the highest annual costs for employee training were for businesses in the field of trade, transport and accommodation with 1,801 ALL per year, from 4,048 ALL in 2016 with a 55% reduction.

But the biggest drop in training spending was for employees in financial and insurance activities. In 2020, the annual cost of training an employee in these businesses was only 734 ALL from 7,290 ALL in 2016, with a 90% decrease.

The Albanian economy still operates on the basis of a model that utilizes the free arm of labor, but as the raw material (people) is running out, Albanian businesses count employees as a cost, instead of strengthening human resource management and increasing productivity through theirs.

Businesses almost invest very little in human resources and do not use stimulating instruments such as bonuses, rewards and training to increase professionalism./ Monitor magazine