
Employment in the public administration has grown rapidly over the past decade, despite government efforts to reduce the number of ministries and increase labor productivity. Official data from INSTAT show that at the end of the first 6 months it reached 185,696 people from about 163,885 that were found in 2014. More detailed data from official reports show that the public administration has swelled with several new functions, but in the meantime the biggest increase occurred in the water supply companies in the local government.
The waves of employment growth in the state increase on the eve of election campaigns. For example, last year in 2021 when there were general parliamentary elections, employment in the state sector expanded by about 8 thousand people or by 4% within a year. In the spring of next year, the country will hold local government elections. Given that in many regions of the country, especially the poor ones, the state is the biggest employer, it will stimulate employment more strongly.
The "Rama 3" government has about 15 ministers from the 12 that were in the "Rama 2" government and 19 ministers that were in the "Rama 1" government. The share of the state in the economy has increased significantly in recent years, according to INSTAT data, the share of public administration in the economy, education, health and social work activity in the total GDP increased by 2.5 percentage points from 2005 to 2020. In 2009, public administration formed 9.7 percent of the country's total GDP, while in 2020 it reached 12.4%.
The increase in the share of the administration in the economy started gradually after 2013. In 2020, of the 10 main branches of the economy, public administration was the third for the highest share in the economy, after agriculture with 19.2%, and the trade, accommodation and transport by over 15%. In 2005, public administration was the fourth largest sector after agriculture, trade and construction.
Albania enters the ex-communist countries that inherited an economy where the state was the only provider of employment until 1990. After this year, the weight of the state sector in the economy and employment would decrease year by year due to the adoption of market economy model, but the state has started to strongly increase its presence in the economy in the last decade.