Important changes in the Romanian labour market

While Romanians are prioritised in the national labour market, foreign workers should enjoy the same respect that Romanians themselves would like to receive wherever they work abroad.

Roxana Vasile, 06.05.2026, 13:30

Over the past 10 years, the number of foreign workers newly admitted into the Romanian labour market has soared from 5,500 in 2015 and 2016, to around 100,000 annually in the period 2022-2025. For this year, the authorities have set a quota of 90,000 foreign workers.

Worth noting is also the fact that in the past third-country workers brought to Romania eventually ended up in other countries, especially in the European Union, which generated high costs for the Romanian state, including with repatriation, as well as problems in Romania’s Schengen accession process.

In this context, the Romanian government recently passed an emergency order regulating the access of foreign workers to the Romanian labour market, designed to curb illegal migration. At the same time, the new legislative framework provides greater protection to these workers, including for situations when they were forced to pay illegal fees, were withheld their salaries or were subjected to pressure. Last but not least, the order aims to protect the interests of Romanian employers and workers.

One the key provisions of the order is the establishment of a protection mechanism in the form of a mandatory EUR 75,000 guarantee for placement agencies for 250 workers brought in. Here is the government spokesperson, Ioana Dogioiu, with more details:

Ioana Dogioiu: “A financial deposit will be introduced, as a mandatory preventive protection mechanism that guarantees the coverage of repatriation costs, support for workers in risk situations and the payment of fines issued for placement agencies that fail to meet their legal obligations; standardisation of employment contracts and the establishment of the “employer pays” principle, under which no commissions, taxes, guarantees, or other deposits may be requested from workers. This brings us in line with OECD standards.”

At the same time, a unified national platform (workinromania.gov.ro) will be created, through which the government will manage the transparent, secure and digital access of foreign workers. A list of occupations reporting workforce shortages will also be introduced, as approved under government resolutions and updated biannually based on data from the National Employment Agency, the National Statistics Institute and consultation with social partners. Ioana Dogioiu explained that the employers who wish to employ foreign workers will have to be registered in this electronic platform, so as to mitigate the risk of unfair competition and abuse on the labour market:

Ioana Dogioiu: “It is also an important gain for Romanian citizens, because this new mechanism explicitly places the recruitment of foreign workers in relation to the actual demand in the economy and the protection of employees. Except for certain highly qualified areas, employment procedures can only be initiated for the occupations included in that list of shortage occupations. So, the principle is that jobs must be filled with priority by workers available in the country, in the domestic market, and resorting to foreign workforce is justified and controlled.”

In fact, before passing this emergency order on foreign workers, the government had adopted another one to amend the Unemployment Law and to introduce a stability bonus for young Romanians without a job. More specifically, those who get their first job with an indefinite contract can receive up to EUR 5,400 over 2 years, tax free, if they keep that job. If someone tries to cheat the system, they will have to return all the money they received.”

The former Social Democratic labour minister, Florin Manole, said this measure anticipates an EU project worth almost EUR 170 million, which will enable over 28,000 young people to get support:

Florin Manole: “This support that we can and will grant is conditional on one thing: after the 24-month subsidy period ends, the employer must keep the employee for at least another 12 months, based on an employment contract for an indefinite period. Therefore, young people who have completed their studies, whether it is high school or university, and who have never worked and when they look for a job they face the question of what previous experience they had and obviously they cannot have had any experience, because they were in school, these young people will gain at least three years of experience, they will learn a whole bunch of new skills…”

This project is complementary to another one, which targets over 280,000 people who have never had a job, unemployed people who are difficult to employ, people on the margins of society in terms of access to services and therefore to employment, as well as to another project that will address Romanians from rural communities.

And still, some voices say, many Romanian employers would rather bring in workers from Asia than hire Romanian unemployed people. Are the measures taken to support them not attractive enough?

Florin Manole: “It’s a mix of situations. On the one hand, unfortunately a large part of our workforce are still employed abroad. On the other hand, as regards the workers from Southeast Asia, I don’t know if you’ve seen, they often share a room with three-four other people, they have their families back home, where living standards are much lower…. Sometimes, not always, I don’t want to generalize, we found foreign workers abused in Romania, in the sense that their rights were breached, some of their contract provisions were not complied with, and Labour Inspectorates often issued penalties for such violations. But there is this perception that foreign workers are a bit more vulnerable.”

The Romanian authorities want anyone who works and pays their taxes correctly in Romania to be respected, regardless of nationality. Even if Romanian nationals take precedence in the domestic labour market, as far as foreign workers are concerned, they must enjoy the same respect that Romanians themselves would like to be shown anywhere abroad they might choose to work. (AMP)