The labor shortage in Romania is considerable, with recent estimates pointing to a shortfall of around 600,000 employees, which foreign workers are partially filling, all the more so as the quota for 2026 has decreased by 10,000 compared to the previous year, and now stands at 90,000 foreign workers entering Romania this year.
As for the specializations for which they are brought to Romania, it has to be said that a distorted image has been created among the public opinion that they would work exclusively in Horeca or construction, sectors with a well-known shortage of labor, but this is not in line with reality.
So, as Yosef Gavriel Peisakh, General Manager Work from Asia, told Ziare.com, in addition to truck drivers, demand is high for domestic staff: nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, family drivers, as well as multi-skilled "handyman" workers, known in popular parlance as "personal assistants".
Thus, the specialist points out, these areas reflect the real needs of the market and the growing shortage of locally available staff.
"The demand for domestic assistants/handyman is constant, and our recruitment agency is seeing a sustained interest from families with a good financial situation in Romania. For more than 16 years we have been placing domestic staff, (...) these employees are in demand in both large and smaller cities, the main criterion being the real need and the family's financial possibilities, not the location", says Peisakh.
It also shows that domestic assistants brought in by the company live in the employer's home and are available around the clock, providing support in day-to-day household activities, from transporting children and shopping to looking after pets and various logistical tasks.
In addition, says the specialist, they can also take on small home maintenance work, such as simple electrician or plumber interventions, adding that there is a constant demand for this type of activity on the labor market.
On the other hand, Yosef Gavriel Peisakh also points out that the authorities may soon be cutting off opportunities for such workers.
"In our 16 years of activity in Romania, we can say that we have brought dozens of domestic assistants, who have successfully integrated into the employing families and have responded to the real needs of this segment. In the coming period, however, depending on how we will be able to adapt to the new Emergency Ordinance, it remains to be seen to what extent it will still be possible to bring this type of staff into the country. The new draft law is a controversial one, as it also stipulates that the Government will decide the specifics and the professions for which the import of foreign personnel will be allowed, an approach that raises questions about the flexibility and predictability of the labor market," explains the entrepreneur.
The Emergency Ordinance to which he refers was put into decision-making transparency at the end of last year, on December 31, and comes to clarify the definition of personal assistance, given that, in the case of a loophole in the law, it is assumed that it can do anything.
OUG 90/2025, therefore, stipulates how many kinds of personal assistance can be as follows:
- personal assistance for adults with handicap severe or accentuated
- professional personal assistant, who is a certified natural person who provides personal assistance necessary for the living and integration in the community and for the prevention of isolation or segregation from the community of an adult with severe or severe disability, who is in the conditions provided for by law
As a result, the loophole through which these workers could enter until now as personal assistants in an 'unorthodox' sense, being able to perform practically any kind of work at the employer's home, could be blocked. And if this draft Emergency Ordinance is adopted, the most likely effect will be that this type of worker, situated in a 'gray' area of professional activity, would be refused without the attestation of documents proving professional training in accordance with GEO 90/2025.
