Lower number of unemployed does not stem from higher employment rate

The number of employed people fell by 17.7% during 2000-2007, to about 1.24 million in 2007. At the same time, the number of the unemployed between 2004 and 2007 decreased almost twofold, from 116,000 to 67,000, Info-Prim Neo reports. The new publication of analyses and forecasts “Economic Reality”, launched by the Independent Analytical center “Expert-Grup”, says that such a situation is not due to the creation of new jobs. It results from the migration of a part of the population able to work and from the unofficial employment for seasonal and temporary works. Expert-Gup analyst Alexandru Gamanji says that though the Government recently approved the national employment improvement plan, it will be difficult to implement it owing to the insufficient resources planned for many activities stipulated in the plan and to the lack of coordination between the institutions involved in its implementation. According to the analyst, the document does not specify how to promote the image of the employment service so as to make it look more attractive to the unemployed, employees and employers. Gamanji says that the creation of new workplaces in the fields included in the plan of action is problematic. In particular, the plan envisages the opening of processing companies in rural areas, planting of vine, including 2,000-2,500 hectares through lending facilities, construction of irrigation systems. These activities require resources, but the institutions in charge, like the Ministry of Agriculture, Moldova-Vin Agency, the former Moldova’s Water Agency that is now part of the new Ministry of Construction, do not have money. The plan does not even include the costs. The provision of credits to the young specialists that will work in rural areas is another measure that seems inefficient because the young people do not find the rural regions attractive from economic viewpoint and as regards the social infrastructure. According to Expert-Grup, the employment rate can be improved by adjusting the education system to the labor market requirements, placing emphasis on the entrepreneurial education and stimulating cooperation between the education institutions and the private sector. As regards the latest developments on the labor market, the experts say that the number of employees in agriculture is constantly decreasing. In 2007, they made up 53.4% of the 788,000 people that worked in agriculture in 2000. Independent experts say the phenomenon is natural, the economic mechanisms playing the role of self-regulators. The workforce from agriculture shifts to urban areas, to the construction sector, where the number of employees rose 1.13 times compared with 2006. Most of the migrants that go abroad are from rural areas.