Approximately one million jobless in Romania due to COVID-19, says CONAF

The number of jobless people in Romania, due to the novel coronavirus, is about one million, taking into account the employment contracts suspended and terminated at the end of May, according to a press release of the National Confederation for Women Entrepreneurship (CONAF).

“To this figure will be added the number of Romanian jobseekers coming from abroad. Because the economic situation is in decline around the world, it is expected that more and more Romanians will decide to return home,” the release adds.

“From an economic, and also a social point of view, Romania urgently needs a medium- and long-term labour market strategy to avoid such slippages in the future. Labour should be a priority not only in election years, but in general, and 2020 can be the year of economic reconstruction based on the basic pillar: labour force. The solution can only be found together, employers, unions, authorities. That is why we have to ask ourselves what we will replace the money sent home by Romanian workers abroad with? How will we manage to create, in a short time, a record number of jobs for those left without a job in the country, but also for those who are now back home,” CONAF president Cristina Chiriac says.