Over 300,000 Romanians have returned to work in their country since the beginning of 2019

By Constantin Radut
According to the information received from the Ministry of Labor and from non-governmental organizations, since the beginning of 2019, over 300,000 Romanians working abroad have returned to the country.
It is the first big wave of Romanian emigrants returning to the country after decades in which the attraction of developed countries in western Europe was a real Eldorado for men and women, especially from rural areas and small towns. According to statistics, the number of Romanians emigrated is over 3.5 million people, but at least one million are working abroad illegally, under stress and lack of social assistance and health.
The explanation of the return to the country of origin of an increasing number of Romanians has two explanations.
First, the Government of Bucharest has increased wages and tax facilities in all public sectors. As a result, in the private companies the monthly incomes have had an upward curve in the last two years.
Secondly, in countries where the Romanian migration is very strong: Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Germany the economy no longer offers special opportunities to obtain a higher monthly income than in Romania.
The most significant sector is the construction sector. Mihai M., an installer on civil construction sites received about 1200 euros a month in Spain. Mihai is from Comana commune, Girugiu county, about 35 km from Bucharest. He returned to Romania from Spain three months ago. When I asked him if his monthly salary was 3000 lei / month (almost 600 euros), as the government committed, he started to smile:”Well, if I were to earn 600 euros would I have returned from Spain? ”He tells me Mihai. Then how much do you earn ?, I asked. “I say that the monthly average is almost double: in addition to the minimum wage set by the government, each of us has receive overtime, bonuses for difficult working conditions and other facilities. I personally obtained, on average, 5000-6000 lei during the three months since I returned to Romania. I have a home here, I have a family here, I have food here in my family. ”
Romanian workers also have good news in other sectors. In the spring of 2019, the government adopted the Ordinance on of the seasonal workers. Now the reasons why they went to the West to work of seasonal workers seasonal workers on farms abroad are less and less. And this is because Romanians can make as much money at home.
An example is Germany. Workers in agriculture, fruit growing, gardening receive minimal savings on the economy. That is about 3.5 euros per hour and I work 12 hours a day, and working conditions are not happy.
The government established that in Romania, the workers covered the medical expenses for work-related injuries and occupational diseases and they were also paid the pension contribution.
In addition, with the increase of the minimum wage, the income received by the day laborers also increased. Thus, no seasonal worker can be paid less than 12.4 lei per hour.
In such conditions it is very clear that Romanians prefer to come to work at home than to stay in foreign countries.
Last year, the government launched the Start-Up Diaspora program. Romanians from abroad who want to return to the country to start a business can receive 40 thousand euros, non-refundable money. The condition is that for the last 3 years he has lived at least 12 months beyond the border and wants to carry out economic activities, other than agricultural ones, in one of the cities in the country. The funds allocated by non-governmental organizations were exhausted in a few weeks. Romanian Business Leaders (RBL) is one of the organizations strongly involved in returning home to the West.
This year, RBL is organizing the fourth edition of the RePatriot Summit. In a statement posted on the website of the organization it states: “After the previous editions in Bucharest, the Danube Delta and Alba Iulia, the summit in Bucovina (October 3-6, 2019) will fulfill one of the fundamental objectives of the movement: promoting the central idea of Repatriot – repatriation through entrepreneurship – and identifying new business opportunities in all historical regions of Romania.
This year’s edition will bring together 100 Romanian businessmen and managers from abroad and 100 from Romania. The organizers have a specific message for Romanians from the Diaspora: “If in the meantime HOME has become for you another country, we want to connect you more with Romania, to be able to take advantage of opportunities, to do things together, to maintain and to realize that Romania is ours and our descendants ”.
Such collective and personal initiatives encourage more and more Romanians who have gone abroad to return to their country, Romania.