The age group that migrates the most is 25-34 years, and while Moldova has plenty of working-age citizens, many are not currently residing in our country, the economist Veaceslav Ioniță found.
In 2020, there were 834,000 employees in Moldova, including 233,000 in the non-observed economy. In 2024, there will be an estimated 880,000 employed people, including 250,000 in the non-observed economy.
“Moldova reached a workforce minimum in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic seriously affected the real sector. In 2024 we will see a slight rebound. Not exactly an increase, but rather a recovery after the pandemic, and rather belated, too”, said Veaceslav Ioniță.
The agricultural sector has seen the sharpest decline in employee numbers. It is estimated that this year there will be 178,000 Moldovans engaged in farming, including 144,000 self-employed people.
“The number of people employed in agriculture increased in 1990-2000, and now we are witnessing a very strong decrease. In 1990-2000, Moldova lost an impressive number of jobs in the formal sector. Basically, half of the entire workforce. At that time, going abroad was still not seen as a solution, and people became massively engaged in agriculture, which absorbed more than 200,000 workers. After losing their jobs, they survived through agriculture, which was subsistence agriculture in its most primitive form. Although the number of those employed in agriculture has decreased, production is at the same level, even increasing, due to a strong increase in productivity and investment in modern equipment and technology. Productivity increased more than three times during this period”, said Veaceslav Ioniță.
The average age of an employee in 2015 was 41.6 years, increasing to 42.1 years in 2017, to 42.6 years in 2020, and to 43.3 years in 2023.
“It is a new phenomenon that has been happening lately, which should worry us, and it is related to the average age of employees in the Republic of Moldova. There are two basic reasons. First, we have fewer and fewer young people overall, and second, it is the inclination of young people to migrate abroad, while the older population stays in the country”, said the expert. He added that young people today are much more willing to work than in 2015. “The problem is that they are practically no longer in the country”.
As for the working-age population (15-64 years), its number in 2015 was 2.62 million people, including 613,000 citizens abroad. In 2023, the total number shrank to 2.48 million, and 819,000 were abroad. Veaceslav Ioniță observed that every third citizen of working age is not in the country. “This indicator is growing and getting worse every year”.
