Category: Working in Romania

According to a recent study, Romania needs at least 50,000 nurses to get out of the current health-care risk situation. This makes this profession one of the most sought after in the coming years, in the conditions of a sharp demographic gap and the increasingly poor health of some vulnerable categories. The need for medical nurses is acute, especially in the rural areas, where, according to specialists in the field, Romania is located in a health risk zone, with dozens of counties where, due to the shortage of personnel, the medical system is almost non-functional, especially in the area of prevention. At the same time, the Romanian medical school is one of the largest providers of nurses on the European labor market, with numerous professionals in countries such as Italy, Belgium and Great Britain. Against the background of the migration of specialized personnel, Romania urgently needs medical nurses to face the health challenges of the coming years, which makes human resources specialists declare that this profession will be one of the most sought after in the future.

In 2024, Romania recorded the highest number of employees in the last 10 years, according to data from the Ministry of Labor. In total, there were almost 5.75 million employees, and the number of individual employment contracts was 700,000 bigger than a decade ago. Also, the average net salary increased to 5,645 lei (1,134 euros) in December, 257 lei (51.6 euros) more than in November 2024. The highest salaries were recorded in the field of information technology – 12,000 lei (over 2,400 euros), and in the oil industry – over 11,000 (over 2,200 euros). The lowest incomes were registered in the textile industry and HoReCa – just over 3,000 lei (600 euros).

In the budget sector, in December last year, salaries increased slightly in health and welfare. The National Employment Agency reported that last year more than 630,000 jobs were declared available. The most jobs offered were in construction, education, health, courier, trade and transport. Currently, ANOFM has registered over 35,000 available jobs. The areas where the most employment contracts were concluded in 2024 are Bucharest (693,000), Cluj, in the northwest (138,000), Constanta, in the southeast (126,000), Timiş, in the west (112,000) and Brasov, in the center (92,000). Most jobs were in construction, education, HoReCa and road transport.

Last year, the Immigration Service of Vaslui county, in the north-east of Romania, issued over 1,800 employment permits for foreign citizens and over 500 residence permits. The police managed the situation of 848 people, including 715 foreigners from the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, China, Sri Lanka and Nepal and 133 citizens of the European Union, most of them from Italy, Bulgaria and Spain. The main purposes for which foreigners settled in the county were employment – 294 people and family reunification – 142 people.

During the reference period, 459 residence permits were issued, of which 447 were for temporary residence and 12 were for long-term residence. 28 registration certificates were issued for citizens of the European Union, the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation or family members from third countries. Also, 2,199 applications were registered for the issuance of employment permits and there were 1,818 employment permits for permanent and posted workers, and 381 applications were rejected. IGI Vaslui also shows that 128 contraventional sanctions were applied, in a total amount of 31,600 lei (almost 6,350 euros), for non-compliance with the provisions of the regime of foreigners in Romania and those regarding the employment and posting of foreigners on the national territory.

More than 1,100 people are to be laid off in Brasov county, in central Romania, according to data from the County Employment Agency. 9 commercial companies in the county have announced their intention to carry out collective layoffs in 2025, the number of people to be laid off standing at 1,130. These are companies from the automotive industry, shoe manufacturing, manufacturing of plastic products, protection and security activities, investigative activities and private protection services and real estate management. In the last three months of last year, 184 employees in Braşov lost their jobs following collective layoffs. The Agency has also informed that, at the end of last year, there were approximately 7,000 unemployed people in its records, the unemployment rate standing at 2.65% in December 2024, a slight increase of 0.02% compared to the previous month.

The unemployment rate in Dolj County, in southwestern Romania, increased in 2024 by 1.5 percentage points, from 7.31% in January to 8.88% in November, according to the County Employment Agency. Thus, the total number of persons registered without a job was 20,406, of which 1,842 were beneficiaries of unemployment benefits. By age group, the most unemployed, 5,094, are from the 40-49 age bracket. Also, the unemployed without education and those with primary education have the highest share in total, of 37.2%. The Dolj CEA also shows that in order to reduce unemployment, measures aimed at increasing the chances of employment of people looking for a job, but also stimulating employers to employ the unemployed, are necessary. In Dolj county, the employment rate, which represents the percentage ratio between the civilian employed population and labor resources, decreased from 82% in 1990 to 57% in 2023, and at the national level it decreased from 82% to 64% . The lowest employment rate, of 53.1%, was recorded in 2021. In 2023, of the 212,900 people employed in Dolj, 43,700 worked in industry, 37,200 in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 36,600 in wholesale and retail trade, 18,100 in construction, 16,900 in health, 12,500 in education and 11,500 in transport and warehousing.

The County Employment Agency of Buzau, a county located in the south-east of Romania, informs that the unemployment rate in Buzău county on December 31, 2024 was 4.95%, a slight decrease compared to the end of 2023, when it was calculated at 5.47%. The highest share of the unemployed was registered in Nehoiu and Patarlagele, where an administrative reform for economic relaunc is necessary. On the other hand, the town of Buzău remained, instead, the main pole of economic development in the county in 2024, with a share of the unemployed in the stable population of 0.53%, the Agency states.

The unemployment rate in Satu Mare County, in northwestern Romania, was 5.14% at the end of last year, up slightly by 0.22 percentage points compared to the previous month, informs the County Employment Agency. Of the total unemployed registered at the end of December 2024, 6,588 people, 885 were unemployed with benefits. By residence, most unemployed people, 5,184, come from rural areas. The largest share of the unemployed is the 40-49 (1,811) age bracket, followed by those aged 30-39 (1,449). The unemployed without education and those with primary education are the most numerous, 55.80%. They are followed by those with a secondary education level, 29.54% and by those who graduated from vocational education, 6.54%.

The Save the Children Romania organization opens in Bucharest a day center for Ukrainian refugee children. The center is subordinate to the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection of Bucharest’s District 6, where the little ones will benefit from homework help, hot meals, Romanian language courses and recreational activities. Save the Children reports that 40 children between the ages of 6 and 11 will attend the center daily, from Monday to Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and the organization will cover the nursery and kindergarten fees for another 60 children between the ages of 2 and 5 years. Three out of five Ukrainian refugee parents in Romania do not have a job, while only 17% are employed with a contract in Romania, 11% work remotely for a company outside our country and 7% are employed without an employment contract , according to an investigation carried out in February by Save the Children Romania. From the beginning of the war in Ukraine until February 29, 21,617 Ukrainian citizens were registered in the ANOFM records, of which 14,727 were women. Of these, 2,784 entered the labor market, 1,890 being women. 65% of refugees indicated the lack of communication skills in Romanian as the main impediment to employment, while 54% said they could not work as they had to take care of a family member. In this context, Save the Children Romania showed that the day center project also aims to facilitate the integration of the mothers of these children into the labor market.

The employment rate of the able-bodied population, aged between 15 and 64, was 63% in 2023, down 0.1 percentage points compared to 2022, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics in Bucharest. The employment rate was higher for men, 71.7%, compared to 54.3% for women. By residential area, the employment rate was higher in the urban area, 68.6%, compared to 57.1% in the rural area. The employment rate of young people between 15 and 24 years old was 18.7%, and that of elderly people, aged between 55 and 64 years, 51%. The highest level of employment rate for people of working age was registered among graduates of higher education, 89.8%. Salaried workers, whose number decreased by 60,000 compared to the previous year, still held the largest share, 85.7% in the total employed population. In 2023, self-employed and unpaid family workers accounted for 13% of the employed population. Of the total number of employed persons, 11.9% worked in the agricultural sector, 33.2% in industry and construction, and 54.9% in services, the NIS also states.

Police workers at the Nadlac 2 crossing point in the west of Romania, on the border with Hungary, caught 16 people who were trying to leave the country illegally, hidden in two vehicles. The drivers, a Romanian citizen and a Bulgarian one, were transporting, according to the documents accompanying the goods, floorboards, beds and mattresses for commercial companies from Italy and the Netherlands. Following the thorough control of the means of transport, 16 foreign nationals from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Iran were discovered hidden in the cargo compartments, among the transported goods. They had entered Romania legally on the basis of work visas and intended to leave the country illegally to reach Western Europe. The drivers are now being investigated for migrant trafficking, while the foreigners hidden in the vehicles, for attempting to fraudulently cross the state border. (MI)

A large community of Ukrainians, made up of about 20 thousand people, was formed in the Black Sea port city of Constanta. They have started their own businesses, enrolled their children in schools and live mainly in the Mamaia resort. They are benefiting from temporary protection from the Romanian state, according to a European directive. The head of the Constanţa territorial service of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, chief commissioner Mircea Labeş, said that 7,800 Ukrainian citizens have been registered this year, almost half the figure reported last year. He describes the Ukrainian community as a stable one that wants to integrate. Ukrainian citizens have obtained a temporary protection document that allows them to stay on the territory of Romania, to carry out gainful activities without obtaining a work permit, as well as to leave the national territory. According to the European Directive, the documents are valid as long as the conflict in the neighboring country is ongoing, but not more than 3 years, after 2025. The chief commissioner has stated that last year, 300 Ukrainians renounced their temporary protection documents and left Romania. According to data provided by the Romanian Interior Ministry, almost 84,000 Ukrainian refugees were registered in Romania at the end of 2023.

Approximately 1,300 requests for employment from foreign citizens were registered, in 2023, in Vâlcea county, in southwestern Romania, the Immigration Office reports. Of these, over 900 requests were approved. According to the quoted source, in total, in 2023, there were approximately 3 thousand foreign citizens in the county, most of them from the Republic of Moldova, Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Of these, about 400 are citizens of the European Union, the majority from Italy, Spain and France. The main purposes for which foreigners have established residence on the territory of Romania are related to the right to family unity, employment or permanent establishment on the national territory. Regarding admission to Romania, during the reference period, 16 invitations were received, of which 12 were resolved positively, and 4 were rejected. These were submitted for foreigners from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Libya and Indonesia, the Immigration police informed. Also, more than 1,600 residence permits were issued and 87 registration certificates and 15 permanent residence cards were issued for citizens of the European Union, the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation.

More than 1,800 jobs in 98 companies are available in Timiș County, in western Romania, according to the County Employment Agency. The institution says that the vacancies cover all categories of education. The most sought-after jobs are commercial worker, administrator, security guard, housekeeper, caretaker, dishwasher, unskilled construction worker, bricklayer, painter, plasterer, goods handler, car and truck driver, civil engineer and topographical engineer. Details on job vacancies are available on the institutions website, timis.anofm.ro.

At the end of last week, the Timis border police found 13 citizens from Nepal who were trying to illegally cross the border into Serbia. Following the checks, it was established that the Nepalese, aged between 20 and 36, are holders of work visas and entered Romania legally. They stated that they intended to leave the country illegally to reach Western European countries. The 13 are now being investigated for attempted fraudulent border crossing and risk being repatriated and losing the right to enter the territory of any EU member state for a period of 5 years. (MI)

The Government of Romania has approved an ordinance that regulates the use of the IT application, portaligi.mai.gov.ro which allows making appointments for submitting the necessary documents to the territorial structures of the General Inspectorate for Immigration. The documents that form the basis of the respective applications can be uploaded in advance, in order to facilitate their subsequent verification at the counter. Uploading the documents in the portal is not equivalent to submitting the request for the extension of the right of residence. For this foreigners are obliged to present themselves at the counter, states the quoted source. The new regulations are aimed to ensure compliance with the requirements regarding the protection of personal data.

The European Commission opened an infringement procedure against 17 member states of the European Union, including Romania, for the non-transposition into national legislation of the directive on attracting highly qualified immigrants from third countries to the labor market. Known as the “EU Blue Card Directive”, the act establishes the conditions of entry and residence for highly qualified citizens coming from non-EU countries to settle and work in one of the states of the union. It is about more flexible admission conditions, additional rights and the possibility to move more easily between member states to find a job. Apart from Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden are targeted by this initiative. Brussels sent a letter to the administrations of the countries in question asking for an explanation for the delay, given that the deadline for transposing the directive was 18 November 2023. The governments concerned now have two months to respond to the letter and transpose the directive in their national legislation, otherwise they will receive a reasoned opinion, the second stage of the procedure, the last stage being the referral to the Court of Justice of the EU.

The Romanian Minister of Labour, Simona Bucura Oprescu, and the Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Labour, Le Van Thanh, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fields of labor and social security. Cooperation focuses on labor migration, employment policies for disadvantaged groups and social protection and welfare for vulnerable groups. The document was signed at the Government headquarters in Bucharest, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, who was on a formal visit to Romania. More than 2,100 Vietnamese workers work legally in Romania, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.

More than 10,000 asylum requests were registered in 2023, the General Inspectorate for Immigration reports. The most requests were submitted by citizens of Bangladesh – 2,821, Syria – 1,955, Pakistan – 1,231, Nepal – 871 and Sri Lanka – 528. According to the Inspectorate, it has six Regional Centers for Procedures and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers, spaces intended for the accommodation of people who have requested a form of protection in Romania, in the situation where they do not have the material means necessary for maintenance. The centers have a total accommodation capacity of 1,100 places, with the possibility of expanding by another 262. The centers where the most requests were registered are Timiş – 8,295, Bucharest – 1,128, Maramureş – 245 and Giurgiu – 242. The General Inspectorate for Immigration specifies that, during the analyzed period, 1,500 foreign citizens benefited from the integration programs, most of them from Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iraq.

Some 30 new counters of the General Inspectorate for Immigration were opened in Romania’s capital Bucharest. The Bucharest Directorate for Immigration and the Immigration Service of Ilfov county reported that the decision was taken against the background of a permanent increase in the number of foreign citizens newly admitted on the labour market in Romania, from 5,500 in 2016 to 100,000 in 2022 and 2023. Until November 27, the activity of the Bucharest Directorate for Immigration and of the Immigration Service of Ilfov county unfolded through 12 counters organized in two metal containers. At present, the public relations activity of the above-mentioned structures takes place exclusively at the newly inaugurated work point at the Grand Arena Mall Commercial Compound, where requests for extending the right of residence are received, employment notices are issued, residency is registered and documents are issued. The General Inspectorate for Immigration has announced that, in order to streamline work flows, a high-performance queue management system is used, a system that is interoperable with the integrated management system for foreigners. Thus, the ticketing system processes the data entered by foreigners in the online scheduling application, and all the necessary information is automatically displayed on the monitors in the waiting room, namely the appointment number, the time of presentation at the counter, and the purpose of presence presence.

Attending the inauguration of the new work points, the Romanian Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu, said that most of those who come to Romania want to find a job and build a career. According to Predoiu, this is to the advantage of Romanian companies and the national economy. He pointed out that Romania is a safe country and will remain a safe country for its citizens and for foreigners who decide to stay on the Romanian territory for a longer period.

A legislative initiative, which provides for the extension, from one to two years, of the period for which the work license is granted to and extended for foreign citizens from outside the EU who work in Romania, was submitted to the Bucharest Parliament. According to the project, which was signed by 16 MPs, the work license is automatically extended for new periods of up to two years in the case of continuation of employment with the same employer based on the contract concluded for an indefinite period. Exceptions to this rule are the cases in which work permits are issued for seasonal workers. The draft law also stipulates that in order to extend the validity of the work permit beyond the initial validity period of the contract, concluded according to the Labour Code, the written agreement of the parties needs to be presented.

The
number of foreigners who can come to work in Romania in 2024 will
reach 140,000, 40% more than the threshold set for this year,
according to an analysis published by the online recruitment platform
eJobs. Currently, a draft government decision in this regard is under
public debate at the Romanian Ministry of Labor. eJobs reports that
most companies offering jobs during this period operate in wholesale,
hotels and restaurants, services, construction, transportation, and
the logistics and tourism sectors. The most common available
positions are in the entry level segment , which requires a maximum
of two years of experience. On the recruitment platform, almost
350,000 jobs were advertised from the beginning of January until the
end of November. Of these, 86,000 were posted by employers in retail,
51,000 by companies in services, 40,000 by those in the food
industry, 37,000 by those in the hospitality industry, 32,000 by
employers in transportation and logistics, and 28,000 by those in
construction. According to the eJobs salary comparative data tool, at
the national level, the monthly net salary averages, for an employee
occupying an entry level position in these fields, between 2,600 and
3,600 lei, i.e. between approximately 525 and 725 euros. Those
working in tourism earn 2,600 lei (525 euros) per month, those in
retail, the food industry, and the hospitality industry, 3,000 lei
(600 euros). In transportation and distribution, average wages are
3,100 lei (625 euros). Workers in construction earn 3,600 lei (725
euros). The number of work permits granted to foreign workers
increased by 50% in 2022, to 100,000, from 50,000 a year earlier.
According to official data, last year more than 96,000 employment
contracts were registered for employees from outside the European
Union.

The European Commission has recently
proposed the creation of an online platform where job offers can be
posted, in sectors with a labor shortage in EU states for which
workers from third party countries can be employed. The proposal is
included in a package of measures, which also include a
recommendation regarding the recognition of the qualifications of
citizens from non-EU countries. The vice-president of the European
Commission, Margaritis Schinas, said that EU countries will need
about 20 million people to work in the information and communication
technologies sector in 2030, and currently there are only 9 million
employees in this sector in the EU. He emphasized that the Union is
in competition for attracting new talents with countries such as the
USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. For her part, the European
Commissioner for Internal Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said that these
proposals are part of a ‘global approach to migration’ and aim to
create ‘legal entry routes’ into the EU. Participation in the system
will be voluntary for each member state of the Union. The Community
Executive has identified 42 sectors with labor shortages in the EU.
In Romania, this deficit could reach 224,000 people in 2026 in the
absence of immediate measures, the American Chamber of Commerce in
Bucharest recently reported.

The number of foreigners from non-EU
countries who arrive to work in Romania in order to later try to
leave illegally for Western European countries is increasing. Many
times, they wait to collect a few salaries, then they run over
Romania’s border with Serbia or Hungary. According to statistics, a
Romanian employer spends approximately 700 euros to bring a worker
from outside the European Union to the country. To this amount is
added the monthly salary, as well as accommodation and food for each
worker. Some foreign workers, however, choose Romania only as a
launching point for Western countries. According to the Employers’
Association of Labor Importers from Romania, workers from Pakistan
and Bangladesh have a predisposition towards illegal migration.
Employers’ associations warn those who intend to leave Romania
illegally that they can no longer receive a valid residence permit
and visa in another EU member state. According to data from the
Border Police, over the last year more than 6,300 foreign citizens
were detected trying to cross the border illegally, most of them into
Hungary.