A salaried employee in Albania worked an average of 43.7 hours per week in 2022, from 43.3 hours the previous year, according to data made public by INSTAT.

Other Euostat data, which measure working hours for European countries and some other countries in the region, reveal that Albanian employees have the longest working hours in Europe, along with other countries in the region.

According to Eurostat, a European worked an average of 37.5 hours per week in 2022, or 6.2 hours less (almost one working day), than an Albanian.

After Albanians, Serbs work longer with 43.3 hours. For North Macedonia, the last data available are for 2020, where the average was 40.9 hours.

According to Eurostat, in 2022, the average working week for people aged 20-64 in the EU was 37.5 hours. Eurostat points out that significant differences are evident between EU countries. The longest working weeks were recorded in Greece (41.0 hours), Poland (40.4), Romania and Bulgaria (40.2 both). In contrast, the Netherlands had the shortest working week (33.2 hours), followed by Germany (35.3) and Denmark (35.4).

In Albania, according to INSTAT, men work an average of 44.8 working hours per week and women 42.5 hours.

The highest difference between working hours between employees in Albania and those in the European Union is among women. Women in Europe seem to be more privileged than those in Albania, as they work fewer hours and therefore have more free time to deal with families and children.

Women in the European Union work an average of 34.7 hours per week, according to Eurostat. According to INSTAT, in Albania women work 42.5 hours a week, or 7.8 hours more than in the European Union. In Germany, women work only 31.2 hours a week, while in the Netherlands, which has the lowest level in Europe, the working week lasts only 28.5 hours.

According to Eurostat, men work an average of 39.9 hours for the European Union average, where the lowest is in the Netherlands (37.4) and the highest in Iceland (42.2). The difference in working hours between men in Albania and the EU average is 4.9 hours, much lower than that of women.

Other data show that although they have the longest working hours, Albanian employees have the lowest salaries in Europe. Albania had the lowest average salary in the region in 2022, at around 520 euros each (gross), according to data from relevant statistical institutes.

Serbia is the country that is "winning" in the regional wage competition, which for 2022 was an average of 880 euros, while in December 2022, it jumped close to the level of 1000 gross euros (983 euros), according to data from the Statistical Institute of Serbia. In North Macedonia the average salary was 832 euros at the end of 2022, in Montenegro 900 euros, in Bosnia 934 euros.

While in other European countries the average salary is over one thousand euros per month.

(Source: Monitor)