| WILL THE NUMBER OF THE UNEMPLOYED DOUBLE? 10/112008 |
| (2008-11-10) |
| Last updated: 2008-11-11 21:27 EET |
The leaders of the big trade union confederations say that the number of the unemployed in Romania will double in 2009, exceeding one million and the unemployment rate will be 8%. In their opinion, the areas that will be most affected by the international crisis will be the textile industry, constructions, agriculture, the car industry, the financial and real estate sectors. Unions estimate that some 350,000 people will be made redundant in those areas by mid 2009. There is also the chance for 20% of those working in the banking and insurance sectors to be made redundant too.
Another area which is having trouble is metallurgy, lots of enterprises reporting people made redundant or laid off. The president of the Fratia union confederation, Marius Petcu upholds that the number of jobless in Romania is much bigger than the one announced by the Ministry of Labour because lots of people are not registered at the unemployment offices and would rather work illegally. Petcu says that there are 500,000 unemployed in Romania, to which adding up will be another 500,000 Romanians, who will come back home from Spain and Italy, countries that have already been hit by the crisis. Marius Petcu has explained that in the wake of lots of people being made redundant, particularly in constructions and agriculture, lots of Romanian nationals will not get the welfare benefit from the officials in the states where they worked, either because they do not have seniority or because they worked illegally.
The union leaders’ figures run counter to the official ones. According to the Ministry of Labour, in late October, there were 360,000 unemployed and the unemployment rate stood at 4%. The president of the National Forecast Commission, Ion Ghizdeanu said that the present international financial and economic crisis would not trigger the growth of unemployment in Romania. He said that every quarter, there were at least 100,000 vacancies and possible unemployed could get a job. Labour Minister Mariana Campeanu has given assurances that Romanian nationals coming back home will get jobs, especially in the field of infrastructure.
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2025-04-03
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