Labor Market and Regional Differences in Unemployment in Albania

Abstract: This paper deals with one important problem that all transition economies, Albania included, are facing in the way of transforming their economies towards market oriented one, i.e. unemployment and regional differences in it. As elsewhere in transition countries, in Albania unemployment displays a regional pattern. In the paper several questions are addressed as, which is the evolution of unemployment and long-term unemployment, which role does the geographical position of regions play in unemployment differentials, which role does sectoral specialization of regions play in unemployment differentials, which path has long-term unemployment followed in regional level?;