After the deep economic recession and the steep increase in poverty of the 1990s, Moldova
has started to recover with sustained output growth and poverty reduction since 1999. This
has led analysts to argue that output growth determined a reduction in poverty and that the
process of transition and restructuring was finally delivering its first results after a decade of
turmoil.
Two anomalies have emerged more recently:
1. Jobless growth: Output growth has not been accompanied by employment growth as
we should expect. The employment rate has stalled or declined during the entire
growth period between 1999 and 2007;
2. Growth with poverty persistence: The poverty headcount index has stalled or
increased since 2003 despite continued output growth. Poverty estimations carried
out with different methodologies are consistent in finding that poverty has not
declined further during the period 2003-2006.