Nea Vasile manages a small vineyard near Pietroasele-Buzeu. This year he had no one to pick grapes with, although he offered each picker food, drinks, cigarettes plus 150 lei net/day. He had vacancies, as the statisticians would say. It was simply not interesting to the locals, so Nea Vasile had to buy a machine for harvesting grapes so as not to be left with unharvested grapes. In total, there were about 40,000 unfilled or, better said, uninteresting jobs for local residents in Romania this fall.

A week ago, statistics reported that we have 444,400 unemployed. With approximately 40,000 unfilled jobs, this translates to more than 11 jobs for every unemployed person who would like to work. The bad part is that the job is not necessarily in the region where the unemployed live, and the qualifications required for the job do not match the training of the job seekers.

If we take a closer look at the INS data, we find the following:

• Most vacancies in Bucharest-Ilfov, where trade and IT&C workers are most in demand

• In the North-West region, people are mainly sought in the manufacturing industry and trade

• In Moldova, we are looking for people in the field of construction and industry

• In Oltenia, we are looking for people in the field of transport, trade and industry

That’s right, for about two million Romanians, distance is not an obstacle, so they agree to commute.

About a third of them work in a county other than where they live, and two-thirds work in a different area than the county where they live.

In Ilfov, passengers make up almost 50% of all workers who most likely come to work in the capital. Next comes the county of Dambovitsa, where, according to statistics, passengers make up more than 44% of the employed population. Giurgiu and Jalomitsa are the next “pools” of passengers.

The case of Mr. Ionescu

Mr. Ionescu is one of hundreds of thousands of unemployed. He worked as a bank clerk until the institution let him go. Ionescu worked in a small provincial town where everyone knows everyone. There are vacancies in this city, but mr. Ionescu refuses positions that he considers inferior to his dignity. “With 6,000 lei a month, I cannot hire myself as a seller in a boutique with 2,000 lei a month,” he says. It is clear.

Ionescu is also trying to find work in the financial sector and has contacted other banks in the city to offer his services. For now he is waiting. This is waiting for unemployment.

The case of Mr. Popescu

Mr. Popescu worked in marketing. Sales, more precisely. He was engaged in the sale of products of the curtain and bed linen factory. It’s what he does for a living, it’s what he’s good at. The business no longer worked, so he stayed on the road. There would be another similar factory about 200 kilometers away where he could get a job, but how could he leave his wife and children and move almost 200 kilometers from home? His job application will not match the job offer in the near future. And the country is full of Popesti and Ionesti.

The case of Mr. Constantinescu

A former top corporatist with a salary of thousands of euros for many years. He saw half the world. A young man (hired by him some time ago) came and spoiled his work. Now he lives on what he collected during the years of leadership. He has not worked for 3 years and does not want to drop below a certain salary level. Wait ’til something comes for me,’ he says sadly. To take your time, because the world has changed.

What affects him the most is that he is no longer invited to parties where he was once considered the soul of the party.

The case of Mr. Nicescu

Family, two children. Each spouse works abroad for 6-9 months a year. I charge about 1000 EUR/net/month. With the funds collected THERE, they expand their farm HERE. Black works there. He happens to be in the social sphere.

They are not registered as unemployed, they are not counted as employed, because they are not. They don’t want to settle there (with some effort they could), because “it’s better to take her here, for THEIR money.” But even here he will not grow old, because only the blind cannot see where the country is going.

“Let’s not complain for now, let’s see what happens,” they say in unison at the barbecue offered to the neighbors. The next day they were going to go abroad again because they ran out of money.