One in four Albanians earns less than 40,000 lek per month. With the “part in the bank and the rest in an envelope” phenomenon still present, there are over 185 salaried employees out of a total of around 734,000 who are paid the minimum wage.
Erald Pashaj, a labor market expert, tells A2: "And we are aware that this is not true. Minimum wages are declared, but in reality wages are higher."
With the pension scheme on the "edge of the abyss" on the one hand and "taxes" not collecting any more money on the other, the government plans to "put every salary under the microscope", even overtime.
To combat informality, the government announces that a new reform based on technology and artificial intelligence will be unveiled within October.
"It's not that simple and it can't be achieved with just word of mouth. The phenomenon of "gray" wages will be present for a long time," emphasizes Pashaj.
Minimum wages will be the first group to pass through the filter of the Tax Administration, the Labor Inspectorate and the Insurance Institute, to crack down on the phenomenon of wage understatement. Some of the other forms of wage informality that the government will combat are the non-registration of employees, professions or even overtime hours.
The government, through these measures, aims to increase the declared real wage by 16% by the end of 2027, practically this percentage is currently the informal part of the labor market. With the realization of these objectives, tax revenues are expected to increase by 4.9 billion lek from personal income tax and social and health insurance contributions. (A2 Televizion)
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