38% of Moldovans are officially employed

Last year Moldova lost another 42,000 workplaces and the employment rate fell to 38.5%, says a study of the labor market that was included in No. 19 of the publication “Economic Reality”. The journal was presented Friday by the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, Info-Prim Neo reports. Study author Ana Popa said this is not only due to the world financial crisis, but also to the particularities of Moldova’s economy during the last decade. “The people leave the agricultural sector as they cannot earn enough money there to maintain their families. The number of employees in the new activities became stable, while in public administration increased slightly, especially in such areas as health and social assistance, probably because of the recruitment of social workers,” said Ana Popa. The expert also spoke about the important structural changes in employment. The number of employees whose age exceeded the retirement age decreased in the non-agricultural sectors. The companies prefer to optimize costs by reducing auxiliary personnel. The employees aged between 25 and 34 increased in number, while the older employees decreased in number. There are mainly employed persons with higher and secondary vocational education. The jobless rate during the last three years increased to 7.4% at the end of 2010. The highest jobless rate was among persons aged between 15 and 24. This shows that the young graduates encounter difficulties in finding employment. The number of persons out of work rose both in rural areas and in urban areas. Ana Popa considers that significant changes on the labor market can be produced by attracting investments and large foreign companies that would create many workplaces and offer attractive salaries. Thus, the top priority of the Government should be to improve the business environment and remove the barriers hindering the development of businesses.