Economic Conditions of Foreign Country Economic Conditions of a Country

Moldova -- Youth Unemployment and Technological Development and Capacity within the Economy

One of the most critical concerns of the current Work Bank is the high rate of youth unemployment in South Eastern Europe. This phenomenon of high youth unemployment, it is feared, will lead to a state of increasing instability across the region. More and more young people in this region are aimless in life, and grow up without being instituted in an appropriate 'work culture.' Either they will emigrate, depleting their nations of young employees, or become drains on the economy. These countries are also afflicted by low birth rates, which will continue to create a diminished labor force.

Development of cost-effective active labor market programs must be complemented by youth programs," states the World Bank. Essential to these programs are loans from the Bank that promotes skills development and cultural activities, as well as community engagement and participation. "Such programs should also involve all the concerned ethnic groups so as to contribute to the broader goal of social cohesion." (World Bank, 2003, "Youth Inclusion and Empowerment in South Eastern Europe Study.")

As a part of such programs, "amongst others, the SDI-SEE has supported the preparation of stand-alone LILs for youth at-risk in FYR Macedonia and Moldova. (World Bank, 2003, "Youth Inclusion and Empowerment in South Eastern Europe Study.") Because of the World Bank's stated interest and the concern, Moldova and its youth unemployment was selected as the country in question to study. Moldova's economy, although still in a relatively new stage of development has data tables regarding its economic status because of the World Bank's concern about this particular issue. Furthermore, it was postulated that technological development must also be studied and encouraged in...

It gives a 'clue' as to how much preparation the young population has for the demands of the global, technologically forward marketplace. In Moldova's case, according to the World Bank Data Tables, in a 4.3 million population, as of 2003, only 60, 0000 Internet uses existed in the country in 2002. The one statistic that makes this lack of technological connection and literacy potentially less dire is that only 11,000 users were connected in 2001. Thus, this aspect of 'connectedness' is increasing, as is foreign aid and investment to Moldova, from 75.5 million dollars to 93.5 million dollars in 2003. However, high technology exports decreased in Moldova from 3.1 to 2.3% of the local economy. Also, data is not being compiled regarding levels of completing primary or secondary education by the country. ("Moldova," 2003, Country Profile Data Table)
The trend thus is greater investment in the country of Moldova, perhaps partly out of world concerns about regional instability. But as yet these investments have not yielded appreciable dividends in terms of creating more technological exports from the nation. Individuals seem more technologically connected in their personal lives, but this has not increased the rate of employment, specifically youth employment, nor is there data being kept on youth employment in expanding sectors of technologically oriented industries that require education and possess more of a long-standing future than traditional modalities of employment. The country does, however, have low levels of illiteracy, which shows that potential does exist to develop the young sector of the labor economy. There is little difference between male and female literacy, an indicator that women are not discriminated against…