Western Balkans - Demand for skills in Albania : an analysis of the skills towards employment and productivity survey

The ‘Skills Towards Employment and Productivity Employer Survey’ (or STEP Employer Survey) provides new and important insights into measuring the transversal skill sets valued by employers. The STEP Employer Survey is part of a multicountry research program launched by the World Bank to provide comparable measures of cognitive, noncognitive, and technical skills and assess how different skill sets affect individuals’ labor market opportunities. This report presents findings from the Albania STEP Employer Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted between April and October 2017 on a sample of 600 registered firms drawn on the 2016 business register in Albania. The STEP Employer Survey provides new and important insights into the mix of cognitive, socioemotional, and technical skills valued by employers, the extent of skills gaps among employers, the skills constraints among job applicants, the extent to which skills gaps affect firms’ hiring decisions, and what firms are doing to address possible skills gaps; it also examines the functioning of the education and training systems based on employers’ perceptions. This report aims to provide policy makers in Albania with new evidence to inform the design and implementation of public policies on postsecondary education, vocational education and training (VET) system labor market information and intermediation, and labor policies. The STEP Employer Survey adds value to other ongoing efforts in Albania (e.g., by the Institute of Statistics in Albania [INSTAT], United Nations Development Program [UNDP], and the National Employment Services [NES]) aimed at assessing occupational demand by focusing on: (i) the labor demand side, employers, which often tends to be disconnected from formal skills development systems; (ii) actual skills, rather than education levels, diplomas, or years of schooling as proxies for skills; and (iii) the broader set of skills, not just job-technical skills associated with one occupation or another. The findings of the report are expected to be relevant to inform public policies looking to narrow skills gaps, but also for firms, private and public education providers, and youth and adult jobseekers looking to develop and reinforce labor market-relevant skills.