Romania needs policies to bring back the youth who study abroad, given that the number of those who go to study abroad has doubled in the last period, and the vast majority of them do not return home, Cristina Chiriac, president of the National Confederation for Women Entrepreneurship (CONAF), said Thursday at a specialized event.
"The statistics show that in 2023 Romania will have a labor shortage of 150,000 employees. In 2026, forecasts show that this labor shortage will double. (...) When we talk about the labor force, we cannot ignore the negative increase in birth rate in Romania, depopulation in certain geographical areas of Romania, the aging population and the migration of skilled labor, because since 2007, this is still a current issue. If we also add the fact that, for example, the number of young people who choose to study abroad has doubled in the last period - and that the vast majority of them do not return to the country, it is clear that we need some policies to attract not only skilled labor force in Romania, but also to bring back young people," said Cristina Chiriac, at the professional debate "The shortage of labor force", organized by the Coalition for Free Trade and Communication (CLCC).
She emphasized that the vast majority of countries in the European Union have the same problem as Romania, but in some countries policies have been implemented to attract the labor force.
"The vast majority of countries in the European Union have the same problem as Romania's, except that in some countries active policies have been implemented to attract the labor force. I'll give you the example of Germany which, within its city halls, has set up head hunting departments for skilled labor. In other words, when a Romanian who goes to the German labor forces to look for a job he or she is automatically redirected to these departments within the city halls, where an evaluation form is applied to see the skills he or she has," explained Cristina Chiriac.
According to her, following that evaluation system, the person who is looking for a job can find one with a very attractive salary, and through the skills they have "bring value to their economy".
"Unfortunately, this system does not work in our country, nor have we implemented it. If we take into account only the level of bureaucracy that exists within the local or central authorities, we are aware that this cannot be feasible in the next 3 years, for example," said the president of CONAF.
Moreover, in other countries, occupational standards are already automated, emphasized Cristina Chiriac.
"In our country, there are still committees upon committees to update an occupational standard and to be able to hire someone who has not finished, for example, a 10-class cycle. It's a whole hassle. It is clear that everything in terms of legislation on qualifications, occupational standards and integration into the labor market needs to be reinvigorated, so that it adapts not only to the national context, but also to the European context. We no longer live in our Romanian bubble. Competitiveness is no longer achived only at a national level, but at a global level, without borders. The only border is online. Consequently, the level of migration of skilled and unskilled labor has increased, and another phenomenon that worries me is that we are increasingly bringing in contingents of unskilled labor from other countries, without quantifying the social or cultural effects in the medium term," added the CONAF president.