TIRANA, April 23 /ATA/-By Maela Marini/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama said at a meeting with business community representatives in the central city of Elbasan on Sunday that a battle has just started as demand for skilled workers is high all over Europe and therefore satisfying employee expectations by the private sector is really essential.
“I met German Chancellor and we discussed the issue of Albanian nurses. Chancellor said that Germany needs an additional seven million workers by 2030. Italy is also mulling plans to open its doors to workers. Spain needs more than 14,000 doctors to meet its health system needs. It is an intense battle and therefore we need to realize that cheap labour should no longer be as such if we want to survive,” PM Rama said in his remarks, adding that it is essential that business clearly understands this.
“We need to speed up the pay rise drive. It would have certainly been an adventure to increase wages higher than what we can afford, just like a family can’t spend more than what it can afford. Albania ranks third in region for average wage level, but a country with higher wages has indeed a public debt at 102%. We have made prudent calculations to deliver on this major pledge, as well as to keep hiking salaries in the future,” PM Rama said.
The Premier said that the government increased the minimum wage to 40,000 lek and plans to hike it to 45,000 lek in 2025.
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