Foreign Cos Appreciate Romanian Workers For Skills, Salary Demands

The number of Romanian women working abroad is larger than the number of men, while Romanians are considered the best employees, due to their skills and the fact that they are working overtime for modest pay, according to a report compiled by European Citizens Advice Service.

The report "Who Is Afraid of the EU's Latest Enlargement?" on the impact of Bulgaria and Romania joining the EU on free movement of people, developed by European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), was published by the Romanian National Employment Agency (ANOFM) and it states that evermore women wish to emigrate. This phenomenon is portrayed by the fact that the women to men ratio is now at 55/45 percent.
 
According to the report, Romanian worker emigration skyrocketed starting with 1990, when Romanian workers could once again own passports, while in the past 16 years, there were three distinct periods of emigration.
 
The first period pinpointed by ECAS, is between 1990 and 1995, when the labor emigration level was 3%, with the main directions being Israel, Turkey, Italy, Hungary and Germany. The second period is between 1996 and 2002, when the emigration level climbed to 7%, and the favored destinations were Canada, Italy and Spain. At the same time, ethnicity triggered emigration (towards Israel, Hungary and Germany) was gradually replaced by economic emigration. The last period identified in the report begins in 2002, when Schengen visas were lifted, and emigrants headed mostly towards Italy and Spain, labor emigration climbing to 28%.
 
The report says that most jobs occupied were in unskilled labor, in construction, the domestic area (housekeeping, caretaking etc.) and agriculture. According to estimations, more than 2.5 million Romanians are currently working abroad, while the unemployment rate was 6.9% in July 2007. Romanians working abroad sent back EUR3.6 billion in 2005 (more than in 2004, when they sent back EUR2.8 billion), while emigrants who returned to the country exchanged more than EUR8.9 billion to RON in 2005.

Mediafax