Radio România Internațional

Tag: foreigners

Working in Romania

The number of foreign workers who can be brought to Romania in 2024 increases from 100,000 to 140,000, according to a draft decision put up for public debate by the Labor Ministry. The General Inspectorate for Immigration shows that, until October 9, more than 80,000 new employment permits were issued for workers from other states. In 2022, their number was almost 109,000, and in 2021 around 50,000. The institution specifies that, on September 30, the number of foreigners with a residence permit for the purpose of employment, secondment or dependent activities, located on the territory of Romania, exceeded 72,000. According to the data provided by the National Employment Agency, between January and August 2023, the total number of vacant jobs in Romania was approximately 506,000.

The main fields of activity in which, in the mentioned period, a significant number of available jobs were registered were: construction of residential and non-residential buildings over 64,000, restaurants over 28,500, postal and courier activities almost 27,000, contracting staff, on temporary bases, about 26,000, protection and guard over 17,500, road freight transport over 17,000, labor placement, about 13,000, food, beverage and tobacco retail, almost 12,000, automotive industry, almost 9,000, confectionery and bakery, over 8,500.

In 2022, the number of new employment contracts registered by Romanian employers for citizens of countries outside the European Union was over 96,000, and in 2021, around 54,000. The Labor Ministry shows that if the number of applications for the issuance of employment permits is greater than the quota of foreign workers newly admitted to the labor market in Romania, the Romanian Government can increase the quota of foreign workers based on a supporting memorandum. In 2019, the number of foreign workers newly admitted to the labor market in Romania was increased to 30,000, from 20,000 as had been established in the previous year. In the years dominated by the restrictive measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this number did not change.

More than 65,000 jobs are currently available in Romania, the National Employment Agency informs. Most jobs, over 4,600, are for security guards, followed by those for goods handlers, over 4,200, and for commercial workers, around 3,000. 2,800 jobs are for unskilled workers in the assembly of parts and manual packaging domain, about 2,700 for unskilled workers in the demolition of buildings, masonry, mosaic, tiles and parquet fitting and installation, almost 1,900 for couriers, about 1,500 for unskilled workers for breaking and cutting construction materials, over 1,300 for unskilled workers in the clothing industry and over 1,000 for cooks and cleaning staff.

Of the 65,000 job vacancies, almost 3,000 are intended for people with higher education, such as engineers in various fields of activity, programmers, advisors, experts, inspectors, referents, economists and accountants. Also, almost 12,000 jobs are available for people with high school or post-high school education, such as commercial workers, customer service agents, data entry, validation and processing operators, cashiers, and drivers for the road goods transportation. Another almost 12,000 jobs are intended for those with professional studies, such as goods handlers, welders, locksmiths, textiles, knitwear and synthetic materials manufacturers. (LS)

30 November 2023
Working in Romania

27% of
the Romanian managers are concerned with the labour shortage reported in the
first half of the year, according to a Confidex survey conducted by Impetum
Group. This is 16% more than the level reported at the end of lui 2022. The
labour shortage seems to become one of the main concerns for the business
environment, overtaking other worrying issues such as the inflation rate and
price rises, which were a concern for almost half of the managers interviewed
at the end of last year, the polling company said. One solution to this
problem, according to some managers, is to integrate public sector employees in
the private system and to import human resources from other countries. But the
latter has proved complicated, given that Romania is not an attractive country
for immigrant workers, so employee retention is a challenge in itself, the
survey authors also pointed out. The Confidex survey aims to provide a clear
image of the perceptions of business people in Romania, with more than 2,500
entrepreneurs and company executives taking part in the 8 editions of the poll
so far.

The
biggest problem facing construction companies in Romania at present has to do
with the workforce, an IBC Focus report reads. Over 75% of the constructions
entrepreneurs say they still struggle with labour shortages, and only 11% of
the respondents say they have enough employees and well trained people in their
teams. Nearly 58% of the participants in the poll said they were interested in increasing
their personnel numbers in the coming year. Also, one in 3 constructions
companies in Romania currently uses foreign workers, as opposed to 1 in 4
companies last year. The authors of the poll argue that the number of companies
adjusting to the labour market and defining procedures for employing foreign
workers is growing, and some 20% of the construction companies in Romania are
looking at the option of hiring foreign nationals.

Another survey, conducted by Deloitte, indicates
that 41% of the companies operating in Romania which say they cannot find
enough staff are facing a shortage of skills required for the current business
systems, which is why companies increasingly resort to so-called workforce
eco-systems, which involve the identification and management of new types of
human resources, such as consultants, freelancers, contractors or outsourcing, in
addition to traditional workforce consisting of full time or part time
employees. The Deloitte report also indicates that, for companies in Romania,
the benefits of a workforce eco-system comprising several different types of
human resources and managed through customized strategies and processes include
improved financial performance for 41% of the respondents and better personnel
retention for 29% of the respondents. Taking part in the latest edition of the Global
Human Capital Trends report, conducted by Deloitte on a yearly basis, were
around 10,000 respondents from 105 countries, including Romania.

More than 4,000 foreign nationals were found
staying in Romania illegally in the first 9 months of this year, the General
Immigration Inspectorate announced. In January – September, the police
conducted nearly 13,000 checks and inspections aimed at preventing and fighting
the illegal stay and unregistered employment of foreign nationals in Romania. Local
employment inspectorate employees also took part in these actions. Some 9,000
fines were issued for the violation of the legal and employment status of
foreigners, and around 3,200 people were issued return decisions. Another 1,000
were escorted out of the country, and 960 others were taken into custody until
their repatriation. (AMP)

2 November 2023
September 27, 2019 UPDATE

ELECTION The Central Electoral Bureau Friday announced the final list of candidates in Novembers presidential election in Romania, which comprises 14 people. On Saturday the Bureau will draw lots to set the order of the candidates on ballots. October 12 is the first day of the campaign, the first round of the election is scheduled for November 10, and the decisive round on November 24. According to a government resolution, the Romanians living abroad will be able to vote between November 8 and 10 in the first round, and between November 22 and 24 for the runoff.

BREXIT As many as 433,000 Romanian nationals are officially residing in Britain, but the number is very likely higher, the head of the Office for Brexit with the Romanian Foreign Ministry Adina Bădescu said on Friday at a roundtable on the impact of Brexit, organised by the European Parliament office in Romania. She explained that at present Romanians make up the second largest foreign community in the UK. So far, the Romanian official added, 187,000 Romanian citizens have applied for post Brexit status. The British government has repeatedly promised that the rights of European citizens will be protected after the country leaves the EU.

VISAS Romanian citizens may be granted multiple-entry tourist visas for Saudi Arabia, valid for one year, the Ambassador of this country to Bucharest, Abdulaziz Al Aifan said on Friday. He explained that Romania is one of the 38 European countries, out of a total of 49 states worldwide, included in a first stage of Saudi Arabias opening up to foreign tourists. According to AFP, Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it would issue tourist visas for the first time, in an attempt to diversify its sources of revenue, which rely exclusively on oil extraction at present.

MOURNING The Embassy of France in Romania will open an online book of condolences on its home page, for those who wish to pay tribute to the former president Jacques Chirac, who died on Thursday aged 86. President Emmanuel Macron declared national mourning on Monday, when the flags of the French Embassy in Bucharest will also fly at half-mast. France is mourning Jacques Chirac, a statesman, a great European and friend of Romania, a country that he visited several times, especially for the Francophonie Summit of 2006, reads a Facebook post of the French Embassy in Romania.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

27 September 2019
Is Romania More Popular with Foreigners?

Physicians, teachers, builders or farmers — more and more Romanians choose to go live and work abroad. The lack of work or the wish to have a better job pushes them to seek a better life abroad. According to the latest census data, going back to 2011, over 727,000 Romanians are supposed to have been abroad for more than a year, most of them in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the UK. We are saying ‘supposed to’ because unofficial estimates claim the figure is three times higher, but even the authorities admit that an accurate count is out of reach.

The only certain information that exists shows that in Italy there are over one million Romanians, while Spain has a little less than a million. At the other end there are the foreigners who come to live here. There are plenty of Europeans, even Western Europeans, but also more and more South Americans, Arabs, Africans and Chinese. Why do they come here to stay? Is Romania a new migration target, especially after joining the EU in 2007? David Grau is a young Spanish man who won an Erasmus scholarship to study foreign languages in 2005-2006. He settled in Bucharest in 2008.

David Grau: “My friends were shocked that I was leaving a country where things were pretty decent for one where things were not that decent, as they had heard. Now it’s the other way around — they are asking me ‘So, over there in Romania, do they have jobs, is it easy to find something?’, because roles are reversed now, Romania receives quite a few Spaniards that are trying their luck.”

Yvonne Bonora came to Bucharest 10 years ago. She followed her husband, Just, who was already here, he’d come a year before to start a restaurant. At first they were shuttling between France and Romania. Then they decided to leave for good the sunny coasts of the Mediterranean to set up their own business: preparations made from 100% Romanian fruit.

Yvonne Bonora: “Together with my husband, we told ourselves that it wouldn’t be bad to make preserves, mostly for our friends, but then for customers… then the business took off. Now, most of our customers are hotels, who buy from us fruit preserve for breakfast or room service. We also supply some high end stores in Bucharest.”

Tom Rees is English. After specializing in gastronomy in Paris, he opened in the capital of Romania a bread and pastry shop: “Im responsible for the creation of new products, I have a team of pastry cooks, five in pastry and three in bakery. Everyone is Romanian, apart from myself. Before we opened the shop, we thought we would have a really hard time finding people to work, and that people arent serious. 90% of our staff have been very serious. OK, we had one or two problems and we had to change some, but, like I said, 80 to 90% of the people we found have been with us for almost a year now, if not more than a year. They are progressing every day, they enjoy what they do, they like to learn, and we reward them. The harder they work, the better we pay them.”

German teacher Matthias Thesing also sees the empty half of the cup, besides the full half: “Salaries are too small. Life is great, but you have to survive. I don’t have money back in Germany, as opposed to other foreigners who come to Romania and who draw money from their own countries. If you have to live from the income you make in Bucharest, it’s just about enough to pay a rent and buy food. But it very much depends on what you want from life. It is obvious that economic conditions are better in Germany, but expenses are greater there. I told myself that, if Romanians can make it over here, why couldn’t I? I like Romania, I feel close to its culture.”

These four expats reflect different approaches to accommodating in Romania. They have to do with life choices: work opportunities; organic food and tranquil villages; a better income to expense ratio than back in their countries of origin. Also, Bucharest ranks 159th out of 211 in the list of cities in which the living standard for expats is good. Foreigners who settle here give the most varied of reasons for their decision. On the one hand, there is the category of people seeking a better life — mostly from poor Asian and African countries.

On the other hand, there are the expats who hold management positions or have high education occupations. For them, Romania is one step up the professional ladder. According to 2014 data from the General Immigration Inspectorate of Romania, there are almost 100,000 foreigners who hold a residency permit, of whom 41,000 come from EU states and states from the European Economic Area. The highest number among them are Italians, followed by Moldovans and Turks. You can also find, however, Chinese, Hungarians, Germans, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Spaniards, Norwegians, Venezuelans or Iraqis. Of course, in comparison to Romanians who choose to go live abroad, the number of expats who choose to live in Romania is much-much smaller. However, their number has become high enough to ask the question: Is Romania more popular with foreigners?

7 August 2015