In 2006, Moldova ranked third in the world in terms of remittances. Money was injected into the country’s economic circuit, and this, at that stage, could not be qualified as something negative, PhD in development socioeconomics Dorina Roșca stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to her, at the first stage, from an economic point of view, migration had positive effects, but later this phenomenon turned into an enormous shortage of labor.
The expert noted that the first waves of migrants were characterized by people who were left without jobs following the restructuring after the declaring of Independence. Subsequently, the first migrants who left began to integrate their families into the host countries, giving rise to the phenomenon of family migration.
“The first waves of migrants in the 1990s, early 2000s, were mainly characterized by a population that was economically marginalized during that period within our socioeconomic system. It goes to people who lost their jobs as a result of the restructuring of enterprises, privatization. Those waves included people with higher education and without higher education. Those waves took with them a wide range of professionals from all the socio-professional categories. Subsequently, the first waves generated other waves of emigration, especially by restoring families abroad,” said Dorina Roșca, president of the Paris-based European Institute for Development Studies.
According to the expert, migration in the first years had a positive effect on Moldova, contributing significantly to filling the country’s budget. Today migration can be used in the interests of the state through the exchange of experience and good practices between qualified migrants and citizens who remained at home.
“Ten years ago, when I defended my PhD thesis, I was talking about the effects of the Moldovan migration in positive terms. We quantify this migration in the amount of money transferred from abroad. In 2020, the phenomenal figure of US$1.8 billion was reached, while in 2006 the equivalent of 35% of Moldova’s GDP was reached. In 2006, we ranked third in the world by the amount of remittances. Some money was injected into our economic circuit and from this point of view we cannot talk about a negative effect. In 2021, at a conference, we were already talking about the migration disease. Today the migration process can be instrumentalized so that we can begin to reap some fruits from this process by transferring knowledge, technologies from qualified migrants, especially to the Republic of Moldova. Today we feel the negative effects of migration in the sense that there are jobs that remain vacant. We have a shortage of workforce,” stated Dorina Roșca.
According to the doctor in development socio-economics, when developing policies to bring the diaspora home, the state must take into account that the people who have left must reintegrate into a new society.
“The diaspora, especially the qualified one, is interested in cooperating with public or private bodies in the Republic of Moldova. It is important for the diaspora to return. But we must understand that the return means readjustment to a society that is new to migrants. Why new? Because during their absence, the society that the individual left evolved. And when they return, they no longer find the society they left. The return means readaptation similar to migration,” explained Dorina Roșca.
The public debate entitled “Why do the Moldovans leave? Under what conditions can they return?” was the 306th installment of the project “Developing political culture through public debates”, which is carried out by IPN News Agency with the support of the German “Hanns Seidel” Foundation.
