Undeclared work does not impoverish: Moldova misses over 15 billion lei in budget annually due to envelope salaries
The Republic of Moldova misses, this year, revenues of over 15 billion lei in the state budget due to the phenomenon of undeclared work and the payment of the salary in an envelope. This phenomenon is growing, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Inspectors complain that they do not have sufficient prerogatives to carry out controls. And experts in the field that the law must take place.
For almost half his life, Ion worked illegally and did various jobs: from construction to agriculture. For several months, he has been employed with the right to work for a private company.
The man says it was quite difficult to find a well-paid job with a good contract:
“I couldn’t find a job so I could work officially and normally.”
The lack of insurance policy and the pension of nothing made him officially get employed.
“I know people who work unofficially and when they arrived at the hospital without the insurance policy they paid a lot. Then I noticed which are beneficial for the insurance policy “, Ion also spoke.
Like Ion, a good part of Moldovans work illegally, says Adrian Lungu, an expert in labor law.
According to him, the phenomenon is growing, and because of this, the state misses, annual revenues of over 15 billion lei.
“In particular, the perception of employers that carrying out the activity in the legal framework would be costly because along with the salary of employers they have to pay compulsory insurance premiums, health insurance premiums, contributions to the social insurance budget, respectively income taxes”, mentioned the lawyer, expert in labor law, Adrian Lungu.
Experts claim that, due to poverty, some Moldovans cannot negotiate an advantageous contract and are forced to accept the salary in an envelope. In this sense, the authorities must intervene, I think the people I met on the street:
“It is the duty of the state and the respective bodies to take restrictive and stimulus measures in order to reduce this scourge.”
“Everything is connected, taxes, pensions, it’s an unbroken thread. Of course, working legally, we hope for a better life. ”
“Medical and social assistance is provided if the salary is paid according to the labor code. Two, we have in mind that taxes are paid and the employee is insured in case of a work accident or something else. ”
Although inspectors regularly carry out on-the-spot checks, it is difficult to find irregularities because the checks are announced in advance, the deputy director of the State Labor Inspectorate told us. And unannounced checks can only be carried out if they are based on a complaint from employees.
“You realize if the control is planned, the control plan is public and the employer to be inspected studies and consults that plan, you realize what the prospect is for identifying undeclared employees at that company,” said the deputy director of the Inspectorate. State. of Labor, Igor Ciloci.
Experts in the field claim that the law is imperfect and inspectors should have more prerogatives.
Often, they do not have free access to companies or cannot sanction employers who break the law.
I tried to get a reaction from the Ministry of Labor, Minister Marcel Spătari himself did not answer the phone. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the phenomenon of undeclared work is on the rise. If in the first half of last year, 4.6 percent of the total number of employees were paid illegally, in the first half of this year, the figure reached 5.4 percent.
The practice of employment without perfecting individual employment contracts, based only on verbal research, is more common among men than women, and the most common cases of the phenomenon are in agriculture, construction and trade.
According to the law, the employer can be fined up to 15 thousand lei if workers who are not officially employed are found.