During a recent assessment visit to Bucharest, the head of the IMF mission, Jeffrey Franks did not rule out a scenario according to which the number of the unemployed will reach one million this year. That is quite likely if January's rate of one thousand people made redundant per day is maintained in the months to come. In an attempt to check this trend, the government has announced it will grant companies which hire jobless people a temporary exemption from the payment of social security contributions. Previously, at the insistence of trade unions, the government extended for another three months a similar exemption for companies whose employees are laid off.

According to Prime Minister Emil Boc, these measures are designed to support the business environment and to protect existing jobs. These days, authorities will also focus on the pension system, which is currently undergoing an overhaul. Policymakers have been working for several months on a pension bill, aimed at reducing discrepancies in the system. The draft is to be presented in a forthcoming government session and then submitted to Parliament for endorsement. According to the Prime Minister, the bill does away with privileges and discrimination among pensioners, and lays the groundwork for a contributive system. Emil Boc:

“It will be a fair law, which ensures the sustenability of the pension system, a law which eliminates the inequity and discrimination in the system, a law which, in our opinion, guarantees that all current contributors to the pension system will receive their pensions when the time comes. The pension law does not provide for any special pension rights for any professional category. All special pensions will be recalculated according to the new principle, that of contributions to the pension funds.”