Former Labor and Social Security Minister Raluka Tsurkan, a Liberal, on Friday criticized the continued overtaxing of part-time workers in an environment where more than 60,000 jobs are being cut, and said she supported a “correction of the measure”.

“I consider it a wrong measure and besides it does not contribute to the increase in the number of jobs and financially does not achieve the goal for which it was introduced. (…) Therefore, I submitted an amendment to the law that approves this extraordinary resolution. Unfortunately, this amendment was defeated in the Senate, but I will be campaigning very hard in the House of Representatives, and I have many colleagues who support fixing this measure. I hope we will succeed,” said Raluka Tsurkan, quoted by Agerpres.

Tsurkan says tens of thousands of jobs have been lost because the government raised part-time tax.

“In terms of the number of contracts, the latest evaluations we conducted showed the following evolution: indeed, the number of open-ended contracts increased, but the number of fixed-term contracts almost halved. Overall, at the end of last month, there was an overall reduction in the number of employment contracts of about 70,000. 70,000 employment contracts, which means about sixty-something thousand jobs, because one person can have more than one employment contract. That is why the numbers confirm that this measure led to a decrease in the number of jobs,” said Raluka Tsurkan.

The ex-Minister of Labor said that in 2021, during her tenure, the number of labor contracts increased, although there was a health crisis.

“Furthermore, during the same period last year, at the height of the health care crisis, labor contracts were constantly increasing, and my main concern as the Minister of Labor was to increase the number of jobs,” said Raluka Turecka.

Tsurkan draws attention to the fact that excessive taxation of part-time workers has led to the growth of the phenomenon of illegal work.

“And one more comment. Thanks to this measure, including the institution of the Romanian state, the figures show that the phenomenon of illegal work has increased, because if employers cannot bear additional taxes, then unfortunately they resort to abuses. and hires black people. So, somewhere, most likely, this decrease in labor contracts can be found in the mirror with black workers,” concluded Raluka Tsurkan.

In mid-July, the government adopted an emergency decree, which introduced a number of changes, including additional payment for part-time work. If until now a two-hour contract was paid for two hours, now for the same contract the level of taxation is the minimum wage level for an eight-hour program.