Mobilising migrants’ skills and
resources
- Romania Conference on the Economic Impact of Emigration
Riga, 17 December 2012
Content
• work migration of Romanian nationals
• the effects on origin and destination labour
markets
• impact on social and economic development
Main migration aspects - Romania
• a very low mobility during 1950-1990 due to totalitarian regime
restrictions;
• the emigration phenomenon (predominantly definitive) suddenly
increased in 1990-1991.
– ’90s - the main mobility reasons were based on ethnicity (significant
flows to Germany, Hungary and Israel), business mobility (small scale
border trade), students’ international mobility, and brain-drain in
mathematical, IT and technical fields.
• new millennium - an important change in mobility pattern in terms
of migration scale, professional fields and destination countries
– Italy and Spain gained high profile among Romanians seeking work,
– the number of Romanians who settled the definitive domicile abroad
has steadily decreased
Evolution of Romanian citizens who settled their
definitive domicile abroad (Romanian Statistical Yearbook)
Migration for work
• Since 2000, a growing trend of emigration for work;
• Main triggers:
– wage differentials between EU-15 countries and Romania (the
Romanian minimum wage represents 15-20% of the minimum
wage in certain destination countries);
– sharp decrease of job opportunities due to deep effects of the
economic restructuring process and transition to a modern
economy.
• an “escape strategy” for solving individual problems
primarily related to low wage earned in Romania.
• motivations related to family situation, study, wish to
change lifestyle and to acquire life and work experience are
also present among migration determinants.
Migration scale and distribution
• Labour Force Survey data - migrant workers from Romania mainly
went to Italy and Spain (around 40% each country) and to a lesser
extent to United Kingdom, Germany and France (around 12% in
total).
• Romania became the biggest provider of migration outflows, more
than 2 million Romanians being registered as residents in other EU
countries, over 70% concentrated in Spain and Italy (Eurostat,
2010).
• Romanian citizens living in the EU have registered the highest
increase among foreign citiziens (7 times increase during 20012010).
• Romanians represent the largest EU-foreign group living in EU
countries (6.6% out of total foreigners; second place after Turkish
with 7.2%).
RO migration – skills perspective
Highly graduated/skilled head
North
Vocational or lower secondary
education head South
Germany, France, UK
• ICT sector
• business sector;
• social sectors.
Spain, Italy, Greece
• construction,
• domestic care,
• housekeeping,
• hospitality,
• agriculture
• manufacturing.
Migration effects on the Romanian
labour market
• initial “relief” effect: an opportunity to reduce
unemployment and alleviate the negative effects
of sharply restructuring economic process;
• the explosive migration for work determined
several negative effects:
– labour shortages, skills gaps, wage demand distortion;
– depopulated areas, deepening of regional
discrepancies;
– social problems with dependants remained at home
(especially children);
– inflationary pressure (due to remittances).
Promoting return migration
The response to massive workforce mobility and return stimulation
mainly focused on three axes:
– Information and awareness,
– entrepreneurship and large-scale investments,
– diversified public intervention.
Only preliminary phases to build a special policy for return
encouragement and management were achieved (2007-2008).
Since 2009, the crisis domestic impact lowered the governmental
preoccupation on this subject.
The negative unemployment rate evolution in the last part of 2008 and
2009 redirected the public policy focus on the domestic labour
market and on finding solutions to tackle crisis effects.
Information and awareness among
migrant communities members
Why: Many migrant Romanians lack important information and updates on
the new developments in their origin regions, the opportunities to start up a
business or to find back home a similar job.
• Several information campaigns and job fairs have been organised by the
Romanian Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection in Italy and
Spain in order to achieve increased information and to provide a concrete
step for return decision – a job in Romania.
• A total of 4 events (information and job fair) were organised in 2008:
Castellon de la Plana (12-13 April) and Alcala de Henares (28 June) in
Spain; Rome (24 February) and Turin (June 21st) in Italy. The locations were
selected in accordance with the highest concentrations of Romanian
workers in Italy and Spain
Although the main impediment to matching was the wage differential
compared to host countries, the increased level of information was a good
basis for a re-assessment of the migration option by Romanian citizens who
had left the country many years before.
Action Plan on promoting the return
of Romanian migrant workers
Adopted in 2008, focused on the following targets:
1) establishing, maintaining, and updating
databases periodically;
2) carrying out an information campaign on the job
opportunities in Romania as well as the active
recruitment of Romanian migrant returnees on
the domestic labour market;
3) elaborating a system to stimulate return and
professional reintegration of Romanian migrant
workers by promoting circular migration.
Department for Romanians Abroad
• established in 1995 directly subordinated to the Prime Minister;
• develops and implements the state’s policy towards the Romanian
communities outside the borders;
• follows the national strategy regarding the relations with the Romanians
abroad;
• The Department’s policy regarding the relation with Romanians abroad
focuses on
– the multiplication of contacts between Romanian personalities or
organizations from the Diaspora and the institutions of the Romanian state;
– the intensification of co-operation aimed at supporting the efforts of
consolidation of the European Union membership;
– the promotion of Romanian cultural values and the strengthening of bilateral
relations between the states in which they live and Romania.
• Funding programs set for 2012:
1. Culture – „Constantin Brâncuşi”
2. Mass–media – „Mihai Eminescu”
3. Education – „Nicolae Iorga”
4. Spirituality and tradition – „Andrei Şaguna”
Entrepreneurship
Why: the experience of working abroad is positively associated with
the entrepreneurial initiatives
Support for returning entrepreneurs:
• Unicredit Group (Unicredit Tiriac Bank in Romania) managed, under
the supervision of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a special
fund to support business start-ups in Romania by Romanian
migrants who want to return back home.
• The project provided special banking tools to support investments in
the origin country using the money earned by migrants in the
destination country.
• The program was mainly focused on youth and female
entrepreneurship and supported business start ups in health and
care sector (35%), service and companies (25%), craftmanships
(25%) wellness/rural tourism - individual or family enterprises (15%).
Large scale investments
Why: new investments expand quality jobs availability in Romania
Successful foreign investments in Romania
- automotive industry
• Development of a Renault research center near Bucharest, and a
new Ford car factory in Craiova allowed for implementation of
training programs and temporary work experience abroad for
Romanian specialists and a solid transfer of their knowledge and
practice on domestic market.
- IT sector
• Important IT companies choose Romania as base for their regional
centers covering entire South-East Europe thanks to a well-qualified
workforce and a dynamic business environment
Public interventions diversification
Why: key source of information and support is the EURES network and
information provided by the Romanian Public Employment Service
(National Agency for Employment)
The MEDIT project
• The MEDIT project was initiated by the Romanian Agency for
Employment in cooperation with Italia Lavoro (Veneto region).
• Developed during 2009-2011, the project was co-funded by the
European Social Fund.
• The aim was to create a model for transnational cooperation for the
return of Romanian migrants by development and establishment of
tools to inform Romanian migrants in Italy concerning the real
situation in Romania and capacity improvement at local institutions
level to support Romanian returnees once they decide to come back
in Romania.
Concluding remarks
• Migrants can act as “catalysts for the transformation of the
Romanian society and for the convergence of Romanian values and
lifestyles towards European ones”.
• The massive migration emerged in a very short period of time with
an unbalancing effect on domestic labour market and a strong
individual pattern of emigration.
• Romania holds a lot of development opportunities and
employment growth especially in sectors that register the highest
disparity compared to the EU level and match the skill orientation
of Romanian migrants (infrastructure, construction, agriculture).
• Based on efficient employment and economic stimulation policies
and also on strong information campaigns among Romanian
communities abroad, these development opportunities could be
used as channels for stimulating Romanian migrants’ return and
integration.