When Chuke’s government came to power, the unemployment rate was statistically 5.2%. A year later, it was 5.4%. In January 2023, it was 5.5%. But the data is misleading.

We have 460,000 unemployed, the INS tells us.

The long story goes like this: we have 4.3 million fellow citizens who fall under the ungrateful label of “poor” (according to an internationally accepted definition). We have rising interest rates, still very high inflation, a budget built on debt (with a deficit we’re building year after year), and 2024 is a triple election year in which no meaningful labor market reform will be voted down. because of the fear of political settlement at the ballot box.

At the beginning of each month, the INS announces the unemployment rate. A low rate means that workers are able to take care of themselves, that the labor market is strong, and that labor is a good exchange between employers and workers.

But if we delve into the details, we will find some surprises.

In 2023, the number of workers receiving the minimum wage increased significantly to reach 1.897 million. Practically, this is a 52% increase compared to December 31 and represents almost a third (28%) of all employment contracts.

Economists consider the unemployment rate as an indicator of pressure in the bowels of the economy. But if many workers are unemployed, low unemployment does not necessarily mean a strong labor market. The fact that salaried workers get and stay in low-wage jobs is a sign of insufficient supply of jobs.

Over the past 10 years, the productivity of the Romanian worker has increased by 95%, and net wages have increased by 126%.

About 120,000 people were working part-time and were willing to work more hours than they are now considered part-time. This category of persons accounted for 40% of the total number of persons who worked part-time. Of the total number of unemployed, 81.2% were rural residents, 77.9% were men, and 52.0% were 35-54 years old. More than half (51.9%) of the unemployed had a low level of education, another 45.9% had an average level of education.

We have 140,000 people who refuse to look for work. Mostly 45-50 years, then 35-40 years

Discouraged persons are inactive persons who are ready to work in the next two weeks (including the week in which the interview took place), who stated that during the last 4 weeks (including the control week) they searched for a job by passive methods or that they did not look for a job because I believe that there is no suitable job.

About 4.7 million people worked, often or only occasionally, during atypical times of the day or work week (evening, night, Saturday or Sunday), representing 61.3% of the total employed population, the statistics show. Most of them worked in trade and agriculture, and the most common forms of atypical work are work in the evening (from 18:00) and on Saturdays (72.1% and 90.6% of the total number of people who performed atypical work).

A third of Romanian workers (31.7%) worked in shifts; 31.3% belonged to the age group of 45-54 years, and 5.7% were young (15-24 years).

The number of persons engaged in a secondary activity in addition to their main activity was 51,600 Romanians and, interestingly, the highest shares were registered for people over 65 years of age

Where to start labor market reforms? 5 main directions

1. Parametric reform of the state pension system, with the abolition of special pensions and their recalculation based on the principles of the state accumulation system (pension points), while observing the principle that no pension in payment can and will not be reduced. At the same time, the method of indexation of the pension score will be revised to ensure a constant connection between its value as a basis for calculating the replacement income from labor (pension) and the main remuneration of the production factor of labor, respectively, wages. ;

2. Reforming labor market institutions by returning to an integrated system of labor relations based on a collective labor agreement at the national level simultaneously with the creation of a partnership mechanism for establishing the minimum wage with the active involvement of social partners;

3. Reform of public service remuneration by creating a single system of official salaries for all civil servants as for contract personnel. Solving the problem of accumulating old-age pensions with wages in the public service by establishing certain mechanisms to stimulate active aging, on the one hand (participation in the labor market and beyond the standard retirement age), and on the other hand, to limit the abuse and waste of public resources;

4. Reform of local state administration, in particular through the unification of UAOadhering to the principle of their economic and fiscal viability in order to reduce their recourse to state budget resources;]

5. Reform of social health insurance to reduce waste in the system and also tie the services offered to the patient to the size of the contribution to the social health insurance system. This reform should be aimed at creating a dual system consisting of a basic non-contributory component financed directly from the state budget and a contribution component effectively financed by social health insurance contributions, and in which the services offered are linked to the sum contribution, as well as the duration of the contribution period accumulated in the system;

These would be the main five areas of reform, to which would be added the need to create a new law on the unemployment insurance system and measures to promote employment, which would completely replace the current regulatory act (law 76/2002), such as the labor inspection reform , an expert of the local labor market told us