
While Albania has been suffering from brain drain for decades, neighboring countries, Greece and Italy, where most Albanians have gone, have overqualified immigrants.
Eurostat has recently published data on the integration of migrants in European Union countries.
Greece is the country with the highest rate of overqualified immigrants in Europe, with around 70% of them appearing to be doing a job of a lower level than their qualifications.
This country also has the highest gap between the overqualification of immigrants and its own citizens. Less than 30% of Greek citizens are considered overqualified for the jobs they do. In Greece, Albania is the largest immigrant community, according to official data. The overqualification of immigrants in Greece is much higher than the average in the European Union, which is about 40%.
The same trend is seen in Italy, where around 64% of immigrants are considered overqualified, while only around 20% of Italians are considered so. In Italy, Albanians are the second largest foreign community, after Romanians.
According to Eurostat, among all EU countries with reliable data, the highest overqualification rates observed in 2023 were in Greece (69.6%) and Italy (64.1%), both for non-EU citizens. In contrast, the lowest rate was in Luxembourg for citizens of another EU country (5.6%).
Italy and Greece were also the countries with the largest gap between EU and non-EU citizens. In Italy, where the difference was largest, the minimum value observed for citizens was below the EU average (20.0% versus 20.8%), while the maximum value observed for non-EU citizens was well above it (64.1% versus 39.4%). In Greece, rates well above the EU average were observed for both citizens (31.1%) and non-EU citizens (69.6%).
People need skills and qualifications to participate successfully in the workforce, says Eurostat. Data on qualifications, measured by the highest level of educational attainment, are an important indicator of the skills available in the labour market. Higher education is generally associated with better employment prospects.
People with higher education who are foreign nationals or born abroad had a less favourable employment situation over the period 2014-2023, Eurostat notes. Compared to individuals or citizens born in the country, they are more likely to not have their formal qualifications fully used in the labour market.
The differences between citizens and non-citizens, however, have narrowed, Eurostat notes: while the rate for citizens remained relatively stable (from 20.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2023), the rate for non-EU citizens decreased from 45.9% in 2014 to 39.4% in 2023.
At least 920 thousand Albanians live in EU countries
According to other Eurostat data, from 2008 to 2023, European Union countries have granted around 920,000 residence permits for the first time to Albanian citizens.
The largest number of permits was granted by Italy, with around 445 thousand.
In second place is Greece, with a total of 284 thousand permits.
These two countries have granted a total of about 80% of the permits granted to Albanian citizens from EU countries for the period 2008-2023./ monitor