The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection launched a nationwide information campaign entitled “Going White” and an initiative to work out a national plan to combat undeclared work, IPN reports.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spătari told a news conference that the goal is to engage and inform the public about the benefits of legal labor and the system of subsidies available to employers. “We do this to help both the employees and the employers to legalize work and to renounce undeclared work,” stated the minister.
According to Marcel Spatari, the state often disappointed the citizens who paid taxes, but received small pensions and allowances and didn’t have a clear view of the future. Data show that one fourth of all the employees work unofficially. “One fourth of the population is deprived of the right to pension, maternity leave, medical services, allowances for accidents at work or fully paid leave. Each third mother in the country cannot have paid leave and each third young person who works in the building sector, services or sales is not insured against accidents at work and risks not being paid a pension. The people who work illegally are stripped of rights and of social and economic protection. This is the cost of distrust,” said Marcel Spatari.
The minister explained that when social taxes are not paid, a deficit appears in the state social insurance budget. “This deficit is covered with funds that can be invested in salaries, social services, education, health, infrastructure and development. If the employers today pay social taxes, the minimum pension will be 3,500 lei. This year the state compensates over 5 billion lei pensions and other types of social insurance, covering the social fund deficit with stat budget funds,” said the minister.
Marcel Spatari noted that the Ministry he leads, together with other authorities, is taking six steps to stimulate and encourage legal labor. “Firstly, it goes legal labor subsidies. The Ministry is developing a mechanism to encourage the companies that hire people legally and will increase the salaries of employees. We aim to implement an automated system for subsidizing pay raises. We will support transition to formal labor in agriculture. The system for declaring day labor will be simplified. There will be introduced vouchers for socially insuring agriculture workers,” stated the minister.
He also said that the State Labor Inspectorate and the State Tax Service will carry out surprise inspections and will recover the contributions unpaid into the state social insurance budget for persons who work illegally or are paid salaries illegally. All the employers in the Republic of Moldova will be put on the electronic National Register of Employers. There will be promoted gender-sensitive policies, including by combating harassment at the workplace. Conditions will be created for employees with small children. Family-type minis-crèches will be developed and subsidized. The Ministry will continue to promote a minimum salary that would cover the minimum consumer basket.
