The lack of an approved quota for the current year has led to an unprecedented situation for the Romanian labor market, which could generate major bottlenecks in the economy, experts say.
Absence The approved quota of foreign workers for the current year makes it impossible to continue recruiting the necessary workforce in vital economic sectors such as construction, agriculture, the hospitality industry and transportation. This situation risks creating significant bottlenecks in the economy as the shortage of skilled labor in Romania remains acute. Romanian employers have urgently requested an increase in the quota of foreign workers, given that the one previously set for 2024 has been completely exhausted, which demonstrates the real need for this step.
,,The General Inspectorate for Immigration rejects requests for employers to issue work permits on the grounds that we do not have an approved quota for 2025. Normally the quota for next year must be approved no later than October of the current year", said Yosef Gavriel Gavriel Peisakh, General Manager of the foreign recruitment agency Work from Asia.
Given that in a single month about 8,000 work permits are normally issued, in the absence of requests for an extension of these settlements, we are talking about almost 8,000 foreign workers who may miss the chance to come and work in Romania and for whom the entire bureaucratic process will have to be restarted once the new quota is approved.
This not only blocks the access of these workers to the Romanian labor market, but also creates the risk that many of them opt for other destinations in the European Union, where the process of obtaining work permits and visas is much more efficient. The "fast-track" mechanism implemented in other EU countries allows documents to be processed quickly, considerably reducing waiting times. In contrast, Romania remains in a cumbersome bureaucratic framework, which not only discourages foreign workers but also affects local employers, who are already facing a significant labor shortage.
,,At the moment, the quota of foreign workers approved for last year is 100% exhausted, and the fact that there is only one bill at the moment that presents the possibility of a new quota of 100,000 new workers does not help us. The real market need is at least 200,000 workers, and the lack of support from the authorities at the moment is making it massively difficult, if not impossible, to bring foreign labor into the country. Thousands of applications for work permits have been refused on this basis since the beginning of the year so far"added Yosef Gavriel Peisakh.
Romania's acute labor shortage can only be alleviated by recruiting and bringing in foreign workers, without which thousands of Romanian businesses will suffer.
100,000 foreign workers could be brought to Romania by 2025
A draft decision tabled by the Labor Ministry on December 30, 2024, proposes to approve a foreign worker quota of 100,000 non-EU workers who can be brought in on employment contracts in 2025.
According to it, the foreigners who could be employed or posted in Romania in 2025, based on the employment/deployment notices, would represent about 1.251TPTP3T of the number of employed persons in the second quarter of 2024, which was, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics, 7.996.000 persons, the Ministry of Labor argues, stating that the objectives of the Romanian authorities regarding migration are to maximize the benefits and limit/eliminate its potential negative effects by promoting legal migration for work purposes so as to generate a positive impact on both Romania's socio-economic climate and on immigrants and their countries of origin.
The industries with the most job vacancies repeatedly reported by employers in 2024 are:
- Construction work for residential and non-residential buildings 47.716
- Other postal and courier activities 29.293
- Restaurant 21.457
- Temporary staff recruitment activities 19.889
- Protection and guard activities 12.367
- Road freight transport 9.091
- Manipulations 6.559
- Retail sale in non-specialized stores with food, beverages and tobacco predominating 4 758
- Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles and engines 4 742 motor vehicles
- Deposits 4.718
- Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles 4.460
- Hotels and similar accommodation 4.376
- Manufacture of bread, pastry, cakes and fresh pastry goods 4.296
- General cleaning of buildings 3.678
- Manufacture of other wearing apparel (excluding underwear) 3 493
- Electrical installation works 3.361
- Road and highway construction works 3.324
- Other passenger land transportation n.e.c. 3.299
- Other business support service activities n.e.c. 3.114
- Activities of employment placement agencies 3.076
- Manufacture of fabricated metal structures and parts of structures 2.444
– Making of electrical and electronic equipment for motor vehicles 2.295 and for motor vehicle engines.
