In the Republic of Moldova, the number of persons out of work who are looking for a job has grown. As many as 28,600 persons are currently registered as unemployed, by 700 more than last year, according to the National Employment Agency.

Contacted by IPN for details, the Agency’s director Raisa Dogaru said that as maintenance costs have increased, the jobless people need to look for a job so as to cope with the price rises. Among those who find a job with difficulty are the persons without a profession, those aged 50 years and older and the people who live in rural areas as the jobs are mainly concentrated in urban areas.

Raisa Dogaru explained that the status of unemployed person is granted to people looking for a job who meet a number of conditions. The person must be aged between 16 and the retirement age, must not be employed and must be able to provide work. The applicant must not be a fulltime student and needs to actively look for a job both individually and through the agency of local subdivisions and should be ready to start work. The jobless persons are registered at the local subdivision of the National Employment Agency. In case of subsequent resignation, the person can be listed again as unemployed in three days of the loss of the job.

To diminish the unemployment rate and to increase the number of working people, unreported employment needs to be diminished. In the third quarter of 2022, illicit work stood at 23.8% of those involved in informal employment, stated Raisa Dogaru.

The NEET people (not in employment, education or training) constituted 30%. These persons need to be involved in work, as the persons with disabilities should be. Therefore, social entrepreneurship needs to be developed.

The measures to use new employment forms, such as employment with atypical work program, temporary or specific employment and with contract for an indefinite period of time, internships or with different types of work contracts, taken as part of the recent polices to diminish the unemployment rate, have played an important role the past few years.

The National Employment Agency offers the persons out of work a job for a definite period of time, in accordance with the applicant’s training or professional experience and state of health, in the locality in which the person has the domicile or outside it, at an accessible distance. The registered jobless person is struck off the list of the unemployed if this unfoundedly rejects two jobs offered in the local subdivision in which he/she is registered.

Employers in 2023 expect a large shortage of specialists in such sectors as health and social assistance, IT, education, public administration, and defense, and also of seamstresses in the light industry, drivers and personnel for the hospitality industry.