MIGRATION > MOLDOVA
A chance of a future in your own country In Moldova, less than 40% of the people are employed in their www.enpi-info.eu own country: a shortage of jobs and low salaries force Moldovans to look for work elsewhere. An EU-supported project provides information and gives qualified Moldovan migrants and students the opportunity to return home and to reintegrate themselves into the national labour market. At the same time, the German government complements these efforts by paying a top-up salary to returning migrants for a limited period. An EU Neighbourhood Info Centre journalist spoke to some people who took the chance and came back. This is his report. Text by Dmitri Kalak Pictures by AFP ©EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre
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CHISINAU - In late 2012, Dorin Toma returned to Moldova. Just a year earlier, the young man found himself at a crossroads, with an important decision on his future looming. His studies at the prestigious Humboldt University in Germany were over, and he had a difficult choice to make: either stay away from his near and dear and try to make a life for himself in Germany, or return to Moldova. There, it would have been hard to find a job and even harder to earn a decent salary. He was lucky. Through the Internet and his friends, he found out about a German project aimed at supporting young qualified migrants return home. He completed a questionnaire and received several invitations for interviews. Now he is the Chief Expert at the Office for Interethnic Connections at Moldova’s State Chancellery. In a landlocked nation of 3.6 million people, labour migration is a seri- EU Neighbourhood Info Centre ous problem. Less than 40% of Moldovans are employed in their own Feature no. 100 country, as a lack of jobs and low salaries back home force them to look beyond their borders for work. According to unofficial data, the number of labour migrants ranges from 600,000 to 1 million, around one third of the entire employable population of the country. Out of these, about 200,000 people have settled in EU countries.
This is a series of features on projects funded by the EU Regional Programme, prepared by journalists and photographers on the ground or the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre. © 2013 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre