Gov’t Encourages Employment

The government of Romania has endorsed measures and incentives to encourage employment.

Leyla Cheamil, 29.09.2016, 13:39

The Government of Romania has taken measures to support vulnerable categories, such as the unemployed who must move town in order to find a job or those who want to return to Romania to work, and has endorsed incentives and measures designed to create new jobs. According to Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, this is for the first time that European and national funds are consistently earmarked so that they may have a concrete impact on markets and peoples living standards.

Specifically, Labour Minister Dragos Paslaru has announced that the unemployed who decide to move town in order to get a job will receive a signing bonus of roughly 2,800 euros. The bonus will be paid in two instalments, the first half upon signing the employment contract and the second one after the first year on the new job. Labour Minister Dragos Paslaru:

Dragos Paslaru: “We are introducing an activation bonus of slightly over 100 euros for any long-term unemployed person who takes up a job. The second element is what we call a ‘mobility package. We are basically introducing the concept of support for commuting in Romania. This employment bonus enables anybody in Romania who is jobless and decides to get a job more than 15 km away from home to receive a subsidy of 0.5 lei per km, with a ceiling of 55 lei per day, so that they may commute to work.

In order to benefit from the activation bonus, a new employee must keep the same job for minimum 3 months. Employers will also receive subsidies, the Labour Minister Dragos Paslaru also says:

Dragos Paslaru: The activation bonus and the mobility package are given to employees, not to companies. But there are also active measures, designed to encourage companies to hire people, and which are offered to employers. There is a 200-euro monthly bonus paid for 12 or 18 months to employers who hire young people, people with disabilities, single parents, elderly people or pensioners.

These measures will come into force on December 1. Also, for the second time this year, the Government has allotted additional funds to the “First Home programme, which helps people buy their first home. The additional funding will be channelled primarily into the applications currently in various review and pre-approval stages, and not to new applications. The budget set aside for guaranteeing the loans taken up by Romanian citizens living abroad will be re-directed to the overall loan guarantee fund.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)