Opinion barometer: 6 out of 10 business people are willing to bring workforce from abroad

The crisis on the workforce market determines more and more companies, especially in construction, manufacturing industry, retail and services to try to draw foreign workers and 6 out of 10 business people would like to bring workforce from abroad, show the results of the opinion barometer made by Frames&Train Your Brain, according to a press release of the company.

The decision of the government regarding the drawing of a number of 20,000 foreign workers to Romania in 2019, with 5,000 more than in 2018, represents a solution for the Romanian economy, considers the majority of those interviewed. Asked how they consider the intent of the authorities, 74% said they agreed, 12% rejected this solution and the rest did not offer any answer. 62% of the interviewed ones stated they are willing to hire workforce from abroad, if they have this opportunity many of them to consider that Romania can supply, efficiently the crisis of workforce in the sectors under growth.

According to the results of the survey, only 32% of the interviewed think that the Romanians who left to work in the West will come back, so that, as there is  a negative rate of natural increase, Romania needs an efficient policy of drawing workforce from other countries, as all countries in the EU do.

‘Germany, France, Spain, Italy understood that their economies need young and active workforce. Even Poland drew 1 million workers from Ukraine. Romania cannot  stay and do nothing, as,from a demographic point of view the data are every year worse’ the Barometer Frames& Train Your Brain said.

Asked what are the domains where foreign workers can have a say, 67% of the interviewed spoke about constructions, 54% - manufacturing industry, 47% spoke about HORECA and 43% - services.

Asked which are the main barriers in drawing foreign workers, 73% of the interviewed indicated the linguistic one – the fact that the foreign workers do not speak Romanian. The cultural barriers (62%) and the administrative ones (58%) were also mentioned as very important.

Another question aimed at the interaction with the foreign workers. 43% of the interviewed said that they had contact with the foreign employees and 76% characterized them as professional, serious-minded and work focused.

What is interesting is the fact that, if they had to choose between a Romanian and a foreign worker, over 60% of the interviewed showed as main criteria for selection professionalism, experience, serious-mindedness and the level of the requested salary. Only 12% of the interviewed  mentioned nationality.

One of the themes which generated most comments was that of measures that Romania should take to draw quality workforce.

‘An open approach, which could include equality of chances, is the most important in this domain. Coherent legislation for accession and administrative mechanisms which could ensure a real integration of the foreign workers is essential starting from residence documents, access to public services, education, health, voting right, anti-discrimination policies, etc. The majority of the interviewed ones showed that the Romanian state must develop a pro-active policy to draw foreign workers in the countries of origin, through the development of facilities such as those for living, grants, social insurances, etc. In a global economy, where the competition for workforce is tougher, Romania should have concrete policies, besides the work permits requested by the private environment’ the quoted barometer says.

The barometer was made between 9 and 23 March 2019, on a sample of 250 interviewed from the economic spectrum ( business people, company managers, HR experts, employees). The method used was online&phone interrogation, and the error margin is +/- 3%.

According to the  Eurostat data, Romania keeps at present, its characteristic of an emigration country and becomes, besides a transit country, a destination country  more and more attractive for immigrants. The estimates show that, until 2060 Romania will record an immigration rate of 18.4/ thousand inhabitants (1.84%).

At present, in Romania, more than half of the immigrants are family members of a Romanian citizen/EU citizen and almost 10%of them came to Romania to be together with their families. A third of the immigrants of Romania represents the category of those for studies. Under 15% represents immigrants who chose Romania  as a workplace, and 5% have small businesses in our country. Men are 60% of the total of immigrants.

The main countries of origin for the foreigners in Romania are the Republic of Moldova (31%), Turkey (16%), and China (12%). Over 40% are present in the area of Bucuresti-Ilfov, and approximately 33% chose, in equal percentage (around 6%) in Iasi, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Timis, Prahova and Bihor.

At present, Romania occupies 22nd position out of 31 in the general ranking of countries for which the indicator MIPEX was calculated preceeding countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia.

The indicator of policies of integration of migrants (MIPEX) is calculated at international level through the evaluation of 148 indicators of policies for the integration of migrants, such as mobility on the workmarket, family reunion, education, political participation, long-term residence, access to citizenship and anti-discrimination.

The conclusion is that Romania is prepared to draw immigrant workers and their families, but there are some steps to be made regarding double citizenship,citizenship on the principle of jus soli, the voting right, and equal access to education and professional training, access to health system and health insurance, access to the system of insurance and social protection, access to housing, Romanian language learning, cultural orientation facility, cultural identity  maintenance.

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