Government Decision: Minimum wage increase will be compensated by 16.7%
To facilitate businesses after the minimum wage increase, the government will re-implement the compensation scheme to cover the additional social security and health contributions for minimum wage employees.
At today's meeting of the Council of Ministers, the decision "On determining the rules, criteria and measures for compensating employer contributions for the additional cost created as a result of the increase in the minimum wage" was approved.
According to the decision, the financial compensation is provided at the rate of the employer's social and health contributions, 16.7%, calculated on the difference in the salary of each employee with a gross salary, in the range from 40,000 lek to 49,999 lek in September 2025, with a salary of 50,000 lek. The financial compensation is provided on the average amount of the fund that would benefit per employee, in the event of no reduction in the number of employees,
The compensation will cover this supplement for the period January–September 2026.
Applications for compensation will be made through the e-Albania platform. According to the decision, entities apply electronically through the “e-Albania” portal for the period they are seeking compensation, starting from April 1, 2026 to October 31, 2026.
Nationwide, the minimum wage increased by 10,000 lek from January 1, 2026, reaching 50,000 lek.
Government Decision
DETERMINATION OF RULES, CRITERIA AND MEASURES FOR COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL COSTS CREATED AS A RESULT OF THE INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE
In accordance with Article 100 of the Constitution and point 9, Article 11, of Law No. 87/2025, “On the 2026 Budget”, upon the proposal of the Minister of Economy and Innovation, the Council of Ministers
DECIDED:
1. Granting financial compensation every month, for the contribution period January-September 2026, for employer social and health insurance contributions for entities affected by the minimum wage increase.
2. Beneficiary entities of financial compensation must exercise activity in all economic sectors of the nomenclature of economic activities and meet the criteria set out in point 5 of this decision.
3. The financial compensation is calculated and granted based on the maximum number of employees with a gross salary range of 40,000 (forty thousand) lek to 49,999 (forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine) lek, appearing on the payroll declared to the tax authorities for the month of September 2025, for the latest update made during 2025.
4. Financial compensation for entities is provided every month, for the contribution period January-September 2026, by the Regional Directorate of the National Employment and Skills Agency (DRAKPA), where they have the address of the country in which the main part of the commercial activity takes place.
5. Eligible applicants must meet the following criteria:
a) Not have a total of one employee registered on the payroll;
b) They must not be state-owned entities or public entities;
c) They must not be entities registered in the insurance status as:
i. self-employed (alone);
ii. self-employed with employees and unpaid family workers;
iii. self-employed without employees and unpaid family workers.
ç) Not have any obligations (principal) to the tax authorities for social and health insurance contributions at the time of application.
6. Entities apply electronically through the "e-Albania" portal for the period for which they request compensation, starting from April 1, 2026 to October 31, 2026.
7. Financial compensation is provided at the rate of the employer's social and health contributions, 16.7%, calculated on the difference in the salary of each employee with a gross salary, from 40,000 (forty thousand) lek to 49,999 (forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine) lek in September 2025, with a salary of 50,000 (fifty thousand) lek.
8. For entities that, in the month requesting compensation, have reduced the number of total employees to less than the number of employees with gross salary, from 40,000 (forty thousand) lek to 49,999 (forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine) lek in September 2025, the financial compensation is provided above the average amount of the fund that would benefit per employee, in the event of no reduction in the number of employees, according to point 1 of this chapter, multiplied by the current total number of employees.
9. Verification of the application is carried out through electronic interaction of systems and distribution to the beneficiaries of this decision is carried out by the regional directorates of AKPA.
10. To make the financial compensation, DRAKPA orders payment every month to the treasury structure in the branch, within the first 10 days of the month, for all requests for the previous month. As many payment orders are made as there are second-tier banks (BND), with which the entities benefiting from the financial compensation operate. The payment is ordered to the payroll transit account in BND for the total amount of the beneficiary entities in that bank and in parallel, DRAKPA sends to BND the list of beneficiary entities in the relevant bank with the bank account details and the amount of compensation for each entity.
11. The financial effect for the period January - September 2026 is covered by the state budget, approved for 2026, in the "Labor Market" program, for the Ministry of Economy and Innovation.
12. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the National Employment and Skills Agency and the General Directorate of Taxes are responsible for the implementation of this decision.
This decision enters into force upon publication in the "Official Gazette".
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