Commuting and Transport in Albania

Federico Benassi, Pranvera Elezi, Donatella Zindato TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Data sources and definitions • A quick glance at non-commuters • Main socio-demographic characteristcs of commuters • Frequency and mode of transport to work • The geography of daily spatial interactions • The role of big municipalities • Concluding remarks DATA SOURCES

“Where is your place of Type of place of work ------> work?” Geographic location of the – Fixed workplace, away from place of work home – In Albania Mode of transport to work – Abroad Frequency of travelling from – Work mainly at home home to work – No fixed place of work COMMUTING STATUS

Employed persons by type of Employed place of work (%) persons who have a fixed workplace 1.0 Fixed work outside home = place 3 out of 4 11.9 Work at employed 13.0 home persons in No fixed Albania may be work place 74.1 defined as Work abroad commuters THE MEANING OF COMMUTING

Commuters = Employed persons with a fixed workplace outside home in Albania ( inner commuters )

Commuting flows = Movements between municipalities (movements from home to work within the same village/town or between different villages/towns belonging to the same municipality will not be taken into account) Employed persons by census year, type of workplace and agriculture/non agriculture home-based working (%) 80 75.8

42.2 40.7 40

11.8 9.9 10.2 10 6.9

2.5 0 Fixed work place Home (agriculture worker) Home (non agriculture worker) No fixed work place 2001 2011 Employed persons by commuting status and urban/rural area (%)

Inner commuters 67.9 32.1

Home-based workers 19.7 80.3

No fixed work place 38.5 61.5

Commuters abroad 30.3 69.7

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Urban Rural Employed persons by commuting status and gender (%)

Inner commuters 61.3 38.7

Home -based workers 62.1 37.9

No fixed work place 78.7 21.3

Commuters abroad 93.2 6.8

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Male Female Employed persons by commuting status and level of education (%) 70

63.4 60.4 60

50.8 50

29.4 30 27.4 27.9

23.1 23.0

20 17.7

13.0 11.7 10 8.5 9.0 8.5 5.8 4.9 3.3 3.8 1.6 2.4 0.6 1.6 1.3 0.7 0 Inner commuters Home-based workers No fixed work place Commuters abroad Without diploma Primary Lower secondary Upper secondary Vocational University WORKING AT HOME: A RURAL PHENOMENON

• Home-based workers are about 86 thousands (13% of the total employed population). • Rural phenomenon: – 80.3% of home -based workers live in rural areas – 80.2% of them work in agriculture • One in every five of them lives (and works) in the prefecture of Elbasan (21.1%), and especially in the district of Elbasan (12.4%). WORKING AT HOME: THE GEOGRAPHY

Home-based workers on employed persons by prefecture (%)

40 37.5

30 24.5 25

20 18.0 17.4 15.1 14.8 15 12.7 12.7 10.8 9.8 10 8.6 8.1 5.8 5

0 HAVING NO FIXED WORKPLACE

• Workers with no fixed place of work are about 78 thousands (11.9% of the total employed population). • Diverse group = among them the rural population accounts only for 61.5% of the total (versus the 80.3% of home -based workers); mix of “mobile” and occasional workers. • The prefecture of Tirana comprises 20.8% of them (mostly in the district of Tirana), followed by Elbasan (14.9%), Fier (12%) and Korçë (10.2%). HAVING NO FIXED WORKPLACE: THE GEOGRAPHY

Workers with no fixed workplace on employed persons by prefecture (%) 18 15.8 16 15.0 14.2 13.9 14 13.2 12.7 12.6 11.8 12 11.6 11.4 10.2 10 8.8 7.8 8

0 COMMUTING ABROAD • Workers abroad are just 1% of the total employed Commuters abroad by country of population. destination (%) • They are for the vast Greece majority men (93.2%), and 1.7 very young (44.3% aged 12.0 <30). 3.4 Kosovo 3.6 • They also register the highest percentage of Macedonia never-married persons (22.8% versus 18%). Montenegro • Commuters abroad are 79.3 mainly construction workers (40.2%) and Other agriculture workers countries (37.7%). COMMUTING ABROAD: THE GEOGRAPHY

Commuters abroad on employed persons (%). First

40 ten municipalities/communes

35 33.8

24.7 25

20 19.2

15 14.3 13.9 12.2 10.1 9.2 10 8.9 8.5

0 Pogon Dropull i Trebisht Kolsh Dropull i Klos Shalës Ostren Konispol Markat Poshtëm Sipërm INNER COMMUTING • Inner work commuters are almost 490 thousands and they are the large majority of the employed population (74.1%). • More than a third of them live in the prefecture of Tirana (35.7%), followed by Fier (12.4%) and Durrës (9.0%). • Compared to 2001, the share of Tirana has further increased, together with that of Fier, at the expenses of the other prefectures, with the exceptions of Berat and Vlorë. INNER COMMUTING: THE GEOGRAPHY

Inner commuters on employed persons by district (%) 100 89.5 87.6 90 84.7 82.6 82.3 81.0 79.4 78.5 77.277.2 76.9 80 75.3 74.4 74.1 72.6 71.9 70.6 69.9 69.9 69.7 68.1 66.8 66.4 70 65.2 63.6 61.2 58.2 57.9 57.2 60 56.0 54.9 51.8 48.7 47.9 50 45.3 45.2 41.1 40

0 Has Fier Mat Pukë Krujë Vlorë Berat Dibër Peqin Korçë Lezhë Kukës Devoll Tiranë Kavajë Kurbin Durrës Kuçovë Bulqizë Përmet Mirditë Albania Delvinë Kolonjë Skrapar Elbasan Lushnjë Tropojë Gramsh Sarandë Shkodër Librazhd Tepelenë Pogradec Gjirokastër Mallakastër Malësi e Madhe e Malësi INNER COMMUTERS: EDUCATION PROFILE

Inner commuters by gender and Inner commuters by urban/rural area education level (%) and education level (%) 45 50 47.4 39.3 40 45 35 40 36.7 30.1 29.8 35 30 30.6 24.5 25 23.6 23.2 30 25 22.1 20 18.0 14.2 20 15 14.1 11 15 13.312.3 10 10 5 3.3 2 1.1 5 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.9 0 0

Male Female Urban Rural INNER COMMUTERS: INDUSTRY PROFILE Inner commuters by gender and industry Inner commuters by urban/rural area and (%) industry (%) 45.0 50.0 40.7 44.3 40.0 45.0 38.9 34.5 40.0 35.0 34.2 30.0 28.8 35.0 30.0 25.0 22.3 25.0 20.0 18.3 19.4 20.0 18.5 13.4 13.9 15.0 10.6 15.0 12.5 10.0 8.9 5.4 10.0 7.2 6.6 7.4 3.2 4.6 3.2 5.0 1.1 2.0 5.0 0.0 0.0

Male Female Urban Rural INNER COMMUTERS BY STATUS IN EMPLOYMENT

Inner commuters by gender and status in Inner commuters by education level employment (%) and status in employment (%) 80 73.0 Without diploma 43.9 3.7 40.9 11.5 70

59.8 Primary 32.9 2.1 50.5 14.6 60

50 Lower secondary 43.4 2.8 40.7 13.1

40 Upper secondary 63.5 6.7 23.9 5.9

30 28.6 Vocational 66.5 5.5 23.5 4.5

20 16.3 University 87.6 4.9 6.3 1.2 8.0 10 6.2 5.5 2.7 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0 Employee Self -employed with Self -employed Contributing family Employee employees without employees worker Self employed with employees Male Female Self employed without employees Contributing family worker FREQUENCY OF TRAVEL/MODE OF TRANSPORT TO WORK

Inner commuters by frequency of travel Inner commuters by census year and means of transport to work (%) to work (%) 60 0.9 50.2 7.9 50 46.6

30 22.7 18.7 91.1 20 16.7

10.3 10.6 9.6 10 5.5 2.0 2.2 2.6 0.6 1.5 0 Daily 1-4 times a week Less than once a week

2001 2011 Inner commuters by urban/rural area and means of transport to work (%) 70

60 57.3

50 46.9

30 24.8 21.3 20 18.3

13.2

3.6 3.1 3.6 1.5 1.7 2.0 2.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0 On foot Bus Motorcycle Car Bicycle Minibus Animal/Tractor Other Urban Rural MODE OF TRANSPORT: THE GEOGRAPHY

Inner commuters by prefecture and means of transport to work (%) 72.3 Berat 12.4 Dibër Durrës Elbasan Fier Gjirokastër Korçë 7.4 Kukës 6.4 Lezhë 31.2 Shkodër Tiranë 34.0 37.0 Vlorë

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Motorized public (bus, minibus, taxi, train) Motorized private (car and motorcycle) Other Animal/Tractor On foot/Bicycle THE SYSTEM OF DAILY SPATIAL INTERACTIONS • Daily work commuters are about 432 thousands. • The volume of movements increases as we go down the geographical scale ⇒ most of daily spatial interactions take place within the municipality/commune of the usual residence (79% of daily commuters). • About 89 thousand people work outside their municipality/commune of usual residence (21% of daily commuters) – almost 14 thousand people are at the same time commuters at the district level (15.2% of the total flows between municipalities/communes) • about 10 thousand people are also commuters at the prefecture level (11.5% of the total flows between municipalities/communes). DAILY SPATIAL INTERACTIONS: THE GEOGRAPHY THE ROLE OF BIG MUNICIPALITIES: TIRANA

Tirana 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 =<10 10 -20 20 -30 30 -40 40 -50 >50 Absolute frequencies Tirana 100 80 60 40 20 0 =<10 10 -20 20 -30 30 -40 40 -50 >50 Cumulate percentage frequencies THE ROLE OF BIG MUNICIPALITIES: FIER

Fier 1000 800 600 400 200 0 =<10 10 -20 20 -30 30 -40 40 -50 >50 Absolute frequencies Fier 100 80 60 40 20 0 =<10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 >50 Cumulate percentage frequencies THE IMPACT OF DAILY INTERACTIONS

Daily net flow on usually resident population (%) 7 Usually Absolute Day-time Municipality resident variation 6.0 population 6 population

Tiranë 418,495 443,636 25,141 5

Durrës 113,249 114,656 1,407 4

Vlorë 79,513 79,439 74 3 Elbasan 78,703 78,489 214

2 Shkodër 77,075 77,549 474 1.2 0.8 1 0.6 Fier 55,845 55,702 143

0 Korҫe 51,152 51,573 421 -0.1 -0.3 -0.3 -1 Tiranë Durrës Kor ҫe Shkodër Vlorë Fier Elbasan PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF DAILY COMMUTERS BY MUNICIPALITY/COMMUNE OF RESIDENCE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF DAILY COMMUTERS BY MUNICIPALITY/COMMUNE OF RESIDENCE DAILY SPATIAL INTERACTIONS AMONG THE SEVEN BIGGEST MUNICIPALITIES

• The map shows the distribution, for each of the seven municipalities, of daily commuters coming from one of the other six. • Each municipality’s gravitational area becomes better defined and it clearly emerges that these seven systems of daily mobility are linked to each other and, in some cases, such as for the flows Tirana/Durrës, Tirana/Elbasan, Tirana/Fier, the link is even quite strong. CONCLUDING REMARKS

• Significant territorial variability with regard to daily spatial interactions ⇒ mainly related to the role played by the major conurbations as both attraction and redistribution poles. • Altogether, big municipalities and municipalities in their surrounding areas form complex systems of daily mobility, which in some cases are also linked to each other (Tirana/ Durrës , Tirana/ Elbasan , Tirana/ Fier ). • On the other hand, peripheral and rural areas appear as self-contained, with a rather scarce volume of commuting flows. Effect of rural/less developed economy, or lack of means of transport? • Very interesting is the key role played in work-related commuting by non- motorized means of transport.