Over 574,000 Working-Age Moldovans Are Outside the Labor Market

Over half a million people of working age are outside the labour market

The Moldovan authorities intend to change their approach to employment policy. Rather than focusing primarily on those officially registered as unemployed, the state will seek to draw the economically inactive population more actively into the labour market.

Photo: eSP.md

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By 2030, according to the draft National Employment Programme for the next four years, the authorities aim to increase the employment rate to 60.9 per cent, reduce the share of informal employment to 12 per cent and decrease the proportion of young people who are neither in employment nor in education or vocational training.

The document shows that approximately 574,000 people aged between 20 and 64 are outside the labour force. The programme envisages gradually bringing some of them into economic activity. By 2030, the total number of people in employment in this age group is expected to reach approximately 765,000.

To achieve this objective, employment services will need to adopt a more proactive approach: identifying people who could return to the labour market, contacting them and offering them support to find employment.

According to the authors’ estimates, the implementation of the programme could contribute to an additional 0.4–0.6 per cent increase in GDP by 2030.

One of the priority objectives is to reduce informal work. The programme also provides for support measures for young people, people with disabilities, older workers and rural residents. Particular attention will be paid to increasing women’s participation in the labour market.

The authorities also aim to tackle undeclared work, improve working conditions and strengthen the State Labour Inspectorate.

The total estimated budget for the National Employment Programme for the period 2027–2030 is 815.3 million lei.

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