While the Republic of Moldova celebrates International Labour Day, economist Veaceslav Ionita highlights a harsh reality: only 1 in 5 active Moldovans works in the real economy.
According to his calculations, Moldova officially has 2,460,000 people of working age. However, nearly 930,000 are abroad, making up almost 40%. It leaves 1,530,000 people “ready to work” in the country, at least theoretically.
But even here, the numbers are not encouraging. Almost half of those remaining in the country do not work at all – they are either studying, sick, unemployed, or simply excluded from the labor market. Ultimately, only 854,000 people work in the national economy.
Of these, a significant portion – about 25% – works in the grey or black economy, without legal contracts, social protection, or contributions to the budget. As a result, the number of officially employed individuals drops to 630,000.
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Among these employees, around 160,000 work in the public sector – administration, education, and healthcare. Thus, in the real economy – the area that generates added value through production, services, or exports – only about 470,000 people remain.
In other words, fewer than 1 in 5 Moldovans of working age. The rest, Ionita says, “we’ve lost along the way: on foreign roads, in senseless bureaucracies, in poverty, in resignation.”
“This is the reality of work in Moldova in 2025. Sad, but true. And maybe that’s why it’s worth mentioning today, on May 1st,” concludes the expert.