The persons with disabilities meet with difficulties in finding employment. According to statistics, the employment rate among persons with disabilities in 2018 was of only 26%. In a news conference at IPN, Ion Ciubotărică, programs director at the Center for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, said the National Employment Strategy is implemented at a slow pace in the case of persons with disabilities.

According to Ion Ciubotărică, the mandatory quota on the employment of persons with disabilities was a measure introduced into the strategy, but this was omitted.  No action is taken to see if the employers obey this quota (5% for groups of over 20 salary earners). Penalties should be introduced so as to make this provision functional.

The Government also lags behind in ensuring the physical access of persons with disabilities to vocational education institutions. Even the institutions presented by the Government as positive cases of accessibility are not accessible. These either have ramps only at the entrance, not yet inside or the dorms of the institution are not accessible. The same is true about higher education establishments where the ramps are not built according to norms and are thus inaccessible. “In 2018, it was planned that five education institutions will be made accessible, but none of these is now accessible,” stated the programs director at the Center for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Among the good actions taken by the Government is the working out of the regulations on social entrepreneurship. There was adopted a framework law in this regard and a national commission on social entrepreneurship was created. In 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics started to calculate the employment rate for persons with disabilities. A pilot project to facilitate the inclusion of persons with disabilities in technical professional education was initiated in 2018. This covers nine institutions that pilot inclusive education programs.

There was adopted the law on employment that envisions subsidization programs for employers who hire persons with disabilities. Assistance is to be provided in the form of monthly subsidies to these.

“We consider these are innovative and awaited measures in the Republic of Moldova, which can encourage the employers to hire persons with disabilities and can create equal opportunities of access to the labor market,” stated Ion Ciubotărică.