Due to a growing labor shortage, foreign workers have become the "saving solution" for Romanian entrepreneurs. We now see them everywhere: in bakeries, restaurants, construction sites, and more recently they are being hired as truck drivers, jewelers but also as assistants in senior homes. If in 2019 there were just under 50,000 foreign workers in our country, now the number has tripled and contracts are already being made for next year. Most come from Nepal and Sri Lanka, and the reason they end up here is double the salary compared to their home country.
Mateo came to Romania 5 years ago when he decided to save some money for his children studying in the Philippines. He tried several jobs until he landed on the one he fell in love with: truck driver. For 2 years he has been working for a transportation company that provides him with accommodation, a car and a salary that can reach 6,000 lei in productive months.
Mateo: "In the Philippines, the salary as a truck driver wasn't enough, it didn't meet my financial needs. In Romania my salary is double what it was in the Philippines. It is hard at first, but over time I learned to control my feelings. The first priority is to earn money to support your children because they are studying. So at the moment we don't think about feelings."
Like Mateo there are more than 10,000 other foreign workers currently working in Romania in transportation and warehousing. Another 3000 Filipinos are expected to arrive in Romania next year to work as truck drivers.
Raluca Tache, director of a transportation company: "The labor shortage is acute, there are no Romanian drivers. At the moment we have 157 trucks, we are adding 35 more, trucks generate costs if they are not used and we have to keep bringing them in."
More recently, sanitation companies have also turned to foreign workers. One of the biggest street cleaning firms hired 130 Nepalese this year. Nationwide, there are about 3,000 such sanitation workers.
Laborer: "I came to earn money and send home. I send money to Nepal and my family is happy".
Cosmin Ilie - administrative manager: "It is hard to find people to work in sanitation. We tried to bring them from around Bucharest but as you can see, people are no longer open to these fields and prefer to leave."
More than 10,000 workers are missing in the bakery industry. So entrepreneurs have turned to foreign labor. That's why we're now seeing more and more people from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India in bakeries.
Ecaterina Vârcolici - pastry manager: "The Sri Lankan colleagues come with certain courses already done, we offer them support, training courses on the Romanian language and pastry."
There are currently over 150,000 foreign workers in Romania, mostly from Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Turkey.
Nicolaescu Elena Larisa Nicolaescu, legal advisor: "The demand is constant, I could even say a slight increase for nannies, car staff, truck drivers, here we receive many applications."
The process for bringing in a foreign worker is a rather difficult one and takes between 6 and 8 months.
