jobless

Romania’s Government on Tuesday approved a decision whereby companies hiring in 2010 people who have been unemployed for at least three months will be exempt from paying social security contributions for the new employees for six months, as long as the new workers are kept for at least one year.

Romania’s unemployment rate is higher than the official 7.5% because it doesn’t include voluntary layoffs and many local companies resort to this method instead of firing people, because it is a less time-consuming process, said Wednesday Raluca Parvu, senior consultant with BPI Romania.

Some 100 former employees of Bucharest parking lot management firm Dalli Exim gathered Tuesday in front of Bucharest City Hall, surrounding the institution and walking around it, in lack of picketing authorization, as they announced the day before, when they received layoff notices.

Romania’s unemployment rate was at 6% in May, the highest in three years and three months, and 0.2 percentage points higher than 5.8% in May, the National Employment Agency ANOFM said Monday.

The number of jobless people in Romania rose in November by around 12,000 persons and is estimated to increase by another 43,000 persons until April 2009, especially in the construction and agriculture sectors, Labor Minister Mariana Campeanu said Wednesday.

Romania's unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2% in March from 4.3% in February, due to seasonal job openings in agriculture and constructions, the country’s employment agency said Thursday.