Employer Association's Badea: There are 500 000 active people in Romania not working

Romanian employers are trying to cover a labour shortage of more than 600,000 people with workers brought from abroad, while more than 500,000 active people in Romania are not working, head of the Romanian Manpower Importers' Employer Association Romulus Badea stated on Wednesday.

According to him, the causes that led to a labour shortage in Romania are the departure of Romanians from the country, almost 6 million, to which are added more than 500,000 active people who are currently not working and the young NEETs - from the age segment 15-29 - who do not appear in any form of education, vocational training or in the work field.

"For instance, according to the EU statistics, the Romanian diaspora is the largest within the EU. So, Romanians represent the largest number of European citizens living in other member states, outside the borders, somewhere around 3.1 million people. And these are only the ones who are registered, who appear in the official statistics," said Badea, at the national conference "Foreign Workers in Romania: Realities and Good practices".

However, he drew attention to the fact that not all the people remaining within the borders are available for work, with more than 500,000 active people in Romania currently not working.

"We are talking about 259,000 registered unemployed people in May 2025. In 2024, approximately 249,000 people received benefits and social assistance. This means that there are 500,000 active people in Romania who are not working. (...) If we add the fact that there is also this Eurostat indicator - NEET - for the 15-29 age group, where Romania leads in the number of young people who are neither going to school or working - 19.4%, we can explain the labour shortage registered with the Employment Agency for 2024 - more than 600,000," Badea mentioned.

The head of the PIFM emphasised that the process of bringing in foreign workers is a complex one, with many parties involved, many challenges, both in terms of the migration procedure and from a practical point of view.

"There are times when legislative provisions are either outdated or do more harm than good, without benefiting anyone, including the authorities," Romulus Badea said.

According to official data provided by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, at the end of 2024, there were 140,640 employees from outside the European Union registered as legally working in Romania. Most of them come from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey and India, and the areas in which they predominantly work are production (29,141 employees), constructions (28,538), trade (20,008), HoReCa (18,844) and administrative and support services (12,189).

According to the Romanian Manpower Importers' Employer Association (PIFM), this figure reflects only part of the real market need, which is much larger and remains far from being covered.

In this context, Manpower Importers' Employer Association organized, on Wednesday, its first national conference entitled "Foreign Workers in Romania: Realities and Good Practices", an event that brought together, for the first time, the relevant institutions involved in the management and integration of the non-EU labour force.