Public spending on VET as the declared key segment of HCD in Moldova has been rather high over the years. However, some of the evidence in the national report and from external sources indicates that there are problems with the efficiency of resource allocation and the effectiveness of investment in VET, which, in turn, prevents VET from meeting stakeholder expectations.

However, behind these high levels of public expenditure there is a pattern of resource allocation that may be preventing VET from unlocking the full potential of its providers to contribute to the HCD agenda of the country. The first source of concern is the low level of capital investment, which in VET is usually earmarked for significant and costly expenditure items such as equipment. An additional efficiency challenge in this respect is that unlike general education providers, which have operated on the basis of per-capita funding since 2013, VET institutions are funded on the basis of an incremental budgeting method, which is known to promote inefficiencies in the administration and use of financial resources in VET. The inefficiencies in resource allocation may have various consequences, one of which is that spending on VET is not as effective as it could and should be.

A skills shortage is a labour market situation in which employers are unable to recruit staff with the required skills at the usual level of pay and working conditions, either because there is an inadequate supply of workers in high-demand occupations or because the workers available do not have the skills required by these occupations.

According to information from the National Employment Agency, skills shortages are a serious impediment for businesses in Moldova, in particular the lack of occupation-specific skills and foreign language skills, as well as the low level of motivation and poor work ethic of prospective and current employees. The lack of occupation-specific (hard) skills is just one indication of possible gaps in the formal education and training of prospective employees. Another is the apparent failure to equip such individuals with a minimum set of soft skills, such as critical thinking, adaptability, problem solving and willingness to learn, which are obviously in high demand from employers.

Eastern Europe is on the rise as a hub of tech and information and communication technology (ICT) start-ups and as an attractive target for venture capital investment in ICT and digital technology development. Many of the companies that are considered to be leading this field are in the region[2] See, for example, https://www.softwaredevelopmentcompany.co/software-development-companies-eastern-europe/. Further in the document ICT and IT may be used interchangeably.
, as, too, are the majority of the countries with the fastest growth in the number of professional software developers.

Although it still falls short of being listed among the top ten countries in terms of the availability and growth of ICT skills (see, for instance, Figure 6), Moldova is already seen as the next key destination for digital outsourcing. The national report, too, describes Moldova as a country with an optimal electronic communications infrastructure and favourable ICT business environment. The report also confirms that the ICT sector is rapidly gaining in significance for the national economy and its competitiveness because of the value and jobs it creates, and because it is a magnet for foreign investment.

However, there are also considerable human capital shortages that hamper the capacity of Moldova to launch new ICT start-ups. The reasons for the bottleneck are manifold and include emigration, lack of investment in the training of ICT specialists, and the limited digital competence of the teaching workforce.

The ETF assessment discusses two further problems relating to human capital in Moldova, namely the depletion of human capital as a result of migration and the exclusion of young people from employment and educational opportunities. These challenges are assessed in greater detail because, in the view of the ETF, they require immediate attention as major impediments to Moldova's strategic priorities of more and better employment and productivity, and the removal of all human-capital-related constraints on growth. Both of these two problems have both been addressed through a wide range of rather complex policy responses that rely on education and training, but both also seem to neglect the youth segment of the population they target.

Moreover, the two problems are interconnected, so that progress with one, for instance greater participation of young people in education and employment, will also indicate progress with the other, that is, the prevention of human capital depletion as a result of migration.

The economy of Moldova has been expanding at a steady rate of over 4% in recent years. However, the declared goal of the government to sustain economic growth and create better living conditions for all citizens has remained at risk owing to a number of domestic and international constraints, including low immigration and high emigration. The national report underlines that migration is a major challenge for the country.

Many of the policy responses to Moldova's migration challenge are implemented with the help of projects funded within the framework of the EU–Moldova Mobility Partnership. Some of these measures aim to create decent living and working conditions as a way of stemming the exodus of people who are highly qualified or who are simply escaping from poverty. Another group of measures treats migration as an opportunity and seeks to capitalise on the potential and resources of Moldovans who are already abroad but may wish to return. Both types of measures are already delivering results, and some rely on education and training, but there is also scope for improvement.

For instance, the ETF assessment found no evidence of proactive policies supporting circular migration. Instead, the authorities give strong preference to reactive, remedial actions in the post-migration phase, while measures addressing the time before people leave are rather limited. Another gap is the underutilisation of HCD as a policy priority: education and training are seldom included in the package of policy responses to support migrants, despite the proven potential of such policies in supporting reintegration and thus preventing the wastage of human capital. Finally, all activities targeting migration depend heavily on donor support. This poses a risk to the sustainability of achievements and creates coordination problems both between donors, and between donors and national authorities.

The assessment establishes that there are two major employment-related problems that affect young people in Moldova – inactivity and unemployment – and that education and training play a role in creating and sustaining both of these problems. Judging by the national report and the background materials to which it refers, policy-makers in Moldova are well aware of both problems.

In terms of more specific actions to tackle labour market exclusion, the national report describes several major steps undertaken in the few years preceding this ETF assessment, including the Start for Young People: A Sustainable Home at Home programme, the Promotion of Labour and Unemployment Insurance, and job creation through youth entrepreneurship[3] National Employment Strategy 2017–2021 and NRF C.3.3.
. A small number of significant measures along these lines are directed towards education and training providers with the aim of ensuring early support for the successful transition of students to employment. The two most prominent measures at provider level are work-based learning (WBL) and career guidance/counselling. As to policy measures promoting participation in education and training, most promote first-time access to education and training programmes, while policies that support student retention and graduation are rare.

Both groups of policies – those supporting participation in employment and those promoting participation in education and training – have strengths, but the ETF assessment establishes that there are also some gaps. For instance, the measures promoting labour market participation through training do not have a focus on young people. They are designed for the general population irrespective of age, which limits their outreach among young unemployed and inactive individuals. The diversity of this population segment is not really taken into consideration, so the main determinants of exclusion, such as socioeconomic background and place of residence, are not addressed and there is a considerable deficit in the involvement of employers.

The ETF recommends improving the financial sustainability of HCD policies concerning migration by mobilising the network of public providers of VET.

Migration-related projects in Moldova traditionally depend on external financial support. However, without alternative, domestically owned schemes and sources of funding, the sustainability of their achievements is at risk. As far as education and training are concerned, the ETF recommends optimising the cost of interventions that involve HCD by making better use of the existing network of public VET providers.

The ETF recommends stepping up the creation of conditions for circular migration, notably by opening opportunities for cross-border education and through the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and educational credentials.

Research shows that the right policy conditions are a prerequisite for functioning circular migration schemes. In the area of HCD, these include the establishment of mechanisms for the mutual recognition of qualifications and other educational credentials, and the promotion of cross-border educational mobility. To that end, Moldova has already entered bilateral agreements with a number of host countries. The ETF recommends expanding the practice of concluding such agreements and prioritising education and training as key elements within them.

The ETF recommends integrating HCD as a priority in actions targeting all phases of migration, and, in parallel, working on setting standards for decent employment across the economy.

Reinforcing the skills development dimension could be a gradual process that leads to the development and updating of curricula for training courses driven by the needs of beneficiaries, to the provision of programmes for both beginners and more advanced participants, and to improved access to such training as an integral part of migration policy.

Furthermore, the ETF had already suggested in 2015 that the role of education and training be extended to the pre-migration phase through seminars and courses delivered by Moldovan state institutions. These actions must be implemented in parallel, through a joint effort with employers, to establish minimum standards of decent employment across sectors of the economy.

Consideration should be given to organising or pooling together the numerous externally supported projects into a limited number of high-priority, complementary strands of strategic action under the leadership of a state body or a group of state bodies.

The ETF recommends that the authorities agree on a number of priority areas for strategic action with respect to migration policy and agree on the areas to which each project may be contributing.

The ETF recommends complementing the existing actions that promote access to education and training opportunities with a package of measures that support students to stay in education by preventing early leaving and promoting continuation beyond lower secondary education and into VET.

The ETF assessment finds that most policy measures are promoting first-time access to education and training programmes, but that very few measures support student retention and graduation, both of which are a challenge in the Moldovan context. The ETF recommends a more balanced approach in the next strategic cycle, which should cover all points at which young people may be at risk of exclusion from education and training, and supplement existing measures with efforts to raise the quality and attractiveness of options available through VET.

The ETF recommends adjusting policy and project planning in support of labour market participation so that it routinely includes services and training offers that are more user-friendly and appealing for young people, thus making the focus on youth an integral part of Moldova's mainstream labour market policy.

The ETF recommends adjusting the services and training offers so that they become more user-friendly and appealing for young people, while still remaining an integral part of the mainstream labour market policy of the country. This can provide a good basis for outreach, especially to vulnerable young people who have not previously benefited from opportunities and support in this area.

The ETF recommends diversifying programmes that support the inclusion of young people in education and employment so that they are more in line with the needs of specific, high-priority groups of young people at risk and address the main determinants of exclusion of these groups.

There seems to be an acute need for actions that are tailored specifically to the needs of inactive young people, those in rural areas, those with low levels of educational attainment, those taking care of family members (e.g. young mothers), and those from vulnerable socioeconomic backgrounds.

Measures to reach out to these groups of young people and to activate them should go hand in hand with the creation of opportunities for decent jobs and the provision of training to prepare prospective candidates for these jobs. Actions in this respect could commence with the identification of particular economic strengths in rural regions, the inclusion of stakeholders in this identification process, and the mobilisation of these strengths through a discussion of local business opportunities and entrepreneurship activities (smart specialisation).

The ETF recommends considering ways of providing more and better capacity building for staff in institutions of importance for employment and youth policies and designing a system of incentives for staff to participate in capacity building and professional training.

In doing so, Moldova will be following and mainstreaming the experience and ongoing efforts of the donor community, which has already prioritised this area of intervention and is investing in capacity building in the civil service and the education and training system[4] NRF A.3.5, Table 10.
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