Moldovan Migrants in Italy: Remittances and the Role of the Labour Market Partners

Social Finance Working Paper. 52a

The study reveals a clear need for both the development of channels for reaching the target group in awareness raising campaigns, as well as for information, in Rumanian/Moldovan, on the cost of transferring money through different agencies and step by step guides on how to open a bank account and order money transfers (through banks). There is also a need to sensitise Moldovans to the option and the advantages of transferring through banks and the savings products they offer. There is a great potential for the social partners to participate actively in both the development of networks to reach migrants as well as conducting the actual awareness campaigns. However, in order to achieve this, awareness raising also needs to be conducted among the social partners themselves, at both national and local level on the situation of Moldovan migrant workers and the kind of assistance they are in need of. The environment does not appear ready yet for direct involvement by individual employers to assist in transfers, nor is there currently any support from the employers’ organisation on behalf of its members to pursue such an idea. However, employers’ and workers’ organisations in a number of sectors have expressed support for dissemination of information material among their members.