Romanian Employment Agency Sees 550,000 - 600,000 Jobless People In Romania By Yearend

Bian said Wednesday he is not scared of the evolution in the country’s unemployment and explained that companies are making efforts to keep their employees.

At the end of February, Romania’s unemployment rate stood at 5.3%.

"I’m not scared. The crisis is a challenge and we need to find solutions, and solutions have already been identified: professional training, active measures on the labor market and entrepreneurial development,” Bian said.

Moreover, Bian added that, during his most recent visit to Spain, he did not receive signals that Romanians working there would return to the country.

"A ingle Romanian wanted to come back. He asked us to help him find a job in constructions in Hunedoara county. Another asked us to help him find a job anywhere but Romania,” he said.

According to data provided by representatives of the Romanian community in Spain, the embassy and Spanish authorities, there are 800,000 Romanian citizens residing in Spain, of which 65,473 are registered as jobless and 37,492 receive unemployment aid.

Bian said Spain has an unemployment rate of 15%, namely over 3 million unemployed people, of whom 473,091 are foreign citizens.

Romanian labor minister Marian Sarbu said on March 23 that he requested an additional 500 million lei (EUR1=RON4.2329) in the Labor Ministry’s budget to help cope with rising unemployment. The minister said the number of jobless people by the end of the year will be higher by 200,000 - 300,000 than the initial estimate of 525,000 people.