According to the National Bureau of Statistics, which conducted the “Labor Force Survey”, 853.9 thousand of them belong to the category of the employed population. This is 3.7% less than in 2023.The national unemployment rate for the year decreased by 0.6 p.p. – to 4%.
The shares of women and men in the labor force were distributed as 51% and 49%. The economically active population in rural areas slightly exceeds the share of the urban population: their figures are 50.3% and 49.7%. The average age of a working person was 44 years.
Last year, 18.1% of the country’s residents worked in agriculture (20.9% in 2023), 13.4% (14.4%) in industry, including 11.3% (12.2%) in the processing industry, and 7.5% (7.1%) in construction. The most employed are in the service sector (61% vs. 57.6% a year earlier).
Territorially, 32,5% of the employed were residents of Chisinau mun. Chisinau. In the Northern region 28,8% of the employed worked, in the Central region – 23,8% and in the Southern region – 14,8%.
The highest share of employees working without individual labor contracts (only on the basis of verbal agreements) was registered in agriculture (56,3%). In construction they were 17.9%, in trade – 6.4% and in industry 5%.
In the informal sector worked 14.8% of all employed in the economy (in 2023 – 16.2%). In the agricultural sector, informal employment amounted to 64.4% (in 2023 – 66.6%). The largest share of informally employed in non-agricultural activities was recorded in construction (63.3% of total employment in this sphere).
