The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family (MoL), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the National Employment Agency (NEA) launched a pilot on-the-job programme on 14 July 2017 during a press conference. The pilot programme has been designed for unskilled jobseekers, especially youth and it is based on labour market needs,

The on-the-job training is part of the planned active measures framework of the new Draft Employment Law and the National Employment Strategy for 2017-2021. It aims at the reintegration of the unemployed persons on the labour market, especially youth, their employment increase, the correlation of the labour market’s demands with the labour force offer, as well as creating decent jobs.

The pilot programme will unfold with the financial and methodological support offered by the ILO Project “Youth Employment Promotion” and will be implemented by NEA. The programme beneficiaries are unskilled persons looking for a job aged between 18-35 years.

NEA will analyse and identify the fields with a clear labour force shortage, its demands, and will select the employers to participate in the process. The Vocational Education Training school, the employer and NEA will implement the vocational training programme. According to the occupational standards, most of the training content will focus on practice, rather than theory. At the end of the training process, trainees will receive a qualification certificate and will be hired by an employer that offered the workplace for the training.

During the opening session of the Programme’s launch, the Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family, Ms Stela Grigoras, explained that on-the-job trainings are appropriate and essential, keeping in mind the discrepancy between demands and what the labour force can offer, and the quick changes on the labour market. “Only a well-trained and qualified labour force may be competitive and responsive to employers’ demands. We hope that the unemployment rate will decrease soon in the country, and employers will be more interested and willing to train their own skilled workers according to their necessities”, said Ms Grigoras.

Ms Violeta Vrabie, ILO Project Coordinator, said that the Grant Programme is hoped to assist the Republic of Moldova in its active measures implementation process related to employment, by generating new decent workplaces for its citizens, including youth.

Contact: Violeta Vrabie at vrabie@ilo.org