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SOCIAL COSTS OF LABOUR MIGRATION 21/05/2008
(2008-05-21)
Last updated: 2008-05-22 21:41 EET Print
The latest European Commission report looking at the progress made by Member States is hardly optimistic as far as Romania is concerned. One of the chapters speaks about a shrinking labour market and a shortage of skilled personnel unprecedented since 1989, when Romania put an end to the communist regime. According to European officials, this is primarily the effect of massive migration. Moreover, the number of public sector employees rose by an average 30 per cent in 2006-2007, fuelling inflation and entailing increased public spending, which threaten to undercut Romania's competitiveness. In view of increasing employment rates, the report urges Bucharest to step up reforms in the education system, to counter early drop-out, to encourage life-long learning and to replace subsistence farming with a sustainable employment source in agriculture. At present, Romania's labour deficit is put at 600 thousand people. The most serious crisis is reported in the building sector and processing industry. Businessmen believe the workforce issue will be solved neither by the perceived “useless” attempts to repatriate the two million Romanians who work abroad, nor by a massive inflow of foreign workers from exotic countries like India or Pakistan. Labour Minister Paul Pacuraru, who initiated a governmental project to repatriate the Romanians working abroad, is nonetheless optimistic about their return. He argues that, as economic growth rates are dropping in Spain and Italy – the destinations of choice for Romanian skilled workers – these will return to Romania sooner than expected. According to European Commission data on employment, Romania ranks third in a group of states that reported the lowest employment rates in the last quarter of 2007, after Hungary and Malta. In this respect, Italy has seen steady low rates since 2004, whereas Bulgaria witnesses a spectacular increase. The data also reveal that the employment rate reached an undesired record of 57.9 per cent in Romania last year.

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