Young graduates due to be employed in culture sector to benefit from one-off allowances in Moldova

Chisinau, 5 June /MOLDPRES/ - Young librarians, curators or artists, who graduated from higher education institutions and vocational schools  with artistic profile, who will choose to work in the territory, according to distribution, will benefit from a one-off allowance worth 90,000 lei and 120,000 lei starting from 1 July 2024.

The regulation on the way of calculation, distribution, use and record of the transfers with special purpose for backing the young graduates in the culture field today were approved by the cabinet of ministers, after in late last year, these provisions had been included in the Law on culture.   

„We want, in this way, to create conditions for a uniform geographical distribution of the qualified staff both in the rural settlements of the country and the district or town culture organizations. Thus, the culture sector will be able to better meet the needs of the residents from these regions,’’ Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan said.    

According to the official, the draft sees the regulation of the conditions for establishing the way of calculation, distribution, use and record of the transfers with special purpose for supporting the young specialists in the culture sector, who benefit, in the first three years of work, from one-off allowance (worth 120,000 lei or 90,000 lei, depending on the level of the institution graduated) from the state budget in three equal instalments: a half of the first instalment – following the first month of work, the second half – at the end of the first year of work and the other two ones – at the end of each year of work.    

The Culture Ministry is set that the first beneficiaries of the one-off allowance should be the graduates of the 2023-2024 academic year and the estimated expenses for providing the allowance for the 2024 year for young specialists is of 1 million 300,000 lei.  

The draft’s provisions will enter into force as of 1 July 2024 and are valid only for the graduates who, in the first year after graduation, are employed, through distribution by the Culture Ministry, at the public institutions of the culture sector in structural subdivisions (with or without legal personality) of local public authorities which carry out cultural activity in municipalities, towns, and villages (communes).  

According to information unveiled by libraries, museums and the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy of Moldova, the average number of specialists sent to be employed in 2023 was 33 people.    

Statistics data shows that 1,300 territorial public libraries, 1,194 community centres and 132 museums work in Moldova. Most of the employees from these institutions have ages of more than 55 years and the share of those with specialized higher education is continuously decreasing.