Romania, a Country in Need of Workers? The Bitter Taste of 'Strawberry Jam'

The Romanian Journal of European Studies, No.5-6, pp. 179-205, 2007

31 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2009

See all articles by Grigore Silasi

Grigore Silasi

Jean Monnet European Centre for Excellence; West University of Timisoara

Ovidiu Laurian Simina

Timisoara Centre for Migration and Mobility Studies - SISEC; Ministry of Internal Affairs

Date Written: 2007

Abstract

The paper is a contribution at the scientific debate of migration and mobility issues in the context of an enlarged European Union (EU-27). We consider that Romania, a country with a labour market that faces distortions, will benefit from migration on short term, but will need to import labour force in order to maintain the development trend. Remittances, as result of Romanians emigration after 2002, helped the economic development of the country in the last years (remittances' inflow doubled the FDI). As a response to the media debate regarding Romania's emigration, we consider that the fear of mass migration from Romania following the year 2007 is not justified. While the European (and mostly British) media cries on the threat of Bulgarians and Romanians' emigration, as following to the 2007 accession, the scientific reports say that the A8 countries' migration benefits to economy of the EU15 countries. In the same time, the Romanian media and the Romanian entrepreneurs announce the 'Chinese invasion' and the lack of labour in construction, industry and even agriculture. We see labour as goods: the economic theory say that goods are moving with the prices, the highest price attracts (more) goods. Romania is not only a gateway for the East-West international migration (like Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece for the South-North direction), but a labour market in need of workers. While a big part of the labour force is already migrated, mostly to the SE Europe (some 2.5m workers are cited to be abroad, with both legal and illegal/irregular status), the Romanian companies could not find local workers to use them in order to benefit from the money inflow targeting Romania in the light of its new membership to the European Union (foreign investments and European post accession funds). Instead of increasing the salaries, the local employers rather prefer to 'import' workers from poorer countries (Moldavians, Chinese, Ukrainians, who still accept a lower wage as compared to the medium wage in Romania, but bigger enough as compared to those from their countries of origin).

Keywords: labour migration, labour market distortions, decision making, need for esteem

JEL Classification: F22, F24, J11, J22, J61, J70, O15, O52, R23

Suggested Citation

Silasi, Grigore and Simina, Ovidiu Laurian, Romania, a Country in Need of Workers? The Bitter Taste of 'Strawberry Jam' (2007). The Romanian Journal of European Studies, No.5-6, pp. 179-205, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1394954

Grigore Silasi

Jean Monnet European Centre for Excellence ( email )

Blvd. V. Parvan 4 Timisoara 300223
Timis
Romania

West University of Timisoara ( email )

Bd. Vasile Parvan nr.4
Timisoara 300223, Timis 330023
Romania

Ovidiu Laurian Simina (Contact Author)

Timisoara Centre for Migration and Mobility Studies - SISEC ( email )

Bd. Vasile Parvan nr.4
Timisoara, 330023
Romania

HOME PAGE: http://www.migratie.ro

Ministry of Internal Affairs ( email )

1A, Piata Revolutiei
Bucharest, 010086
Romania

HOME PAGE: http://www.mai.gov.ro

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