The increase in oil prices in early March 2026 has brought a shock wave to transportation and production costs, exerting direct pressure on the prices of services and daily consumption. But this increase may also have direct consequences on the salaries of Albanian citizens.

According to an analysis by the Albanian think-tank ALTAX, it is predicted that the conflict in the Middle East may slow down real wage growth, especially for energy-sensitive sectors such as transport, services, and light industry, increasing the need for fiscal policies and compensation mechanisms to preserve the purchasing power of employees.

In this context, the analysis suggests that the trend towards higher wages and the concentration in key occupations and sectors remains a stabilizing factor, providing a basis to withstand the expected inflationary impacts during 2026.

In the short term, the dynamics of the labor market, combined with wage growth, suggest a relative resistance to price increases; however, inflationary effects may affect the pace of real growth in employees' incomes.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the average gross salary per employee reached Lek 86,984, marking an increase of 4.3%, compared to the same three months of 2024 and an increase of 4.4% compared to the third quarter of 2025. The distribution of salaries shows a stable distribution towards high salaries, where the share of employees with salaries over Lek 120 thousand increased from 14.1% to 16.2%, while the minimum wage fell from 14.2% to 12.8%.

On the labor market side, the participation of the population aged 15–64 in the labor force was 75.9%, increasing by 0.4 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2024, but marking a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2025.