According to him, the problem of the construction industry is that 60% of workers in this sphere are illegal. In 2024, 64 thousand people were employed in construction, of which 24.8 thousand were employed, and 39.2 thousand – illegally. At the same time, 40% of those employed in the industry each year are newcomers.
This fact speaks about the lack of professional growth in construction, although mostly young people come to work here. If in the cities officially and unofficially employed are distributed approximately equally, in rural areas this ratio is 26.4% and 73.6%. That is, more than 70% of the personnel do not have medical and social insurance.
The economist stated that the wages in the construction industry until the 1990s were about 15% higher than the average for the economy. Currently, according to statistics, it is 15% lower.
At the same time, it is known that a significant part of workers have their wages paid “in an envelope”. That is, in addition to the fact that 60% work illegally, a quarter of 40% of those legally employed receive their wages unofficially. Therefore, the real salary of a legally employed construction worker is 15-20% higher than the average for the economy.
As a result, in 2024, due to non-payment of taxes, social and health insurance contributions by construction workers, the state budget losses amounted to 4.2 billion lei.
In 2023, 3.6 billion lei will be lost, and in 2022 – 3.2 billion lei.
