Bye-Bye, Romania!

Highly-skilled Romanian employees leave the country in droves

Luiza Moldovan, 08.09.2021, 14:00

The
Romanian diaspora is the world’s fifth largest diaspora, and the sixth largest
within the OECD countries. In Romania’s case, migration is the obvious cause for
the country’s population diminishing. These are the conclusions of an OECD
report. Most Romanian migrants are poorly skilled, while the higher education
graduates among migrants are overqualified. Nearly half of the Romanian higher
education graduates who migrated to OECD countries have poorly skilled jobs.
Men usually work in the construction sector, while women find employment in the
household industry. Notwithstanding, the medical doctors in the diaspora make a
large and clearly-defined community. Hospitals are understaffed as regards the
medical doctors, and we strongly feel the consequences of such a situation. Why
do our medical doctors leave? What can we do to prevent them from doing that?
How does the typical doctor-patient relationship look like, in our country or
elsewhere?

Sociologist Vladimir Ionas:

For its greater part, the migration of medical doctors, we can say it
occurred before the pay rise that was officially approved only a couple of
years ago. Unfortunately, it is the main problem the Romanian healthcare system
is facing. As we speak, the migration of the medical doctors is an ongoing
process. And at that, it is not about
the paygrade, it is also about the facilities n the hospital, about the
shortage at all levels, which is rampant in hospitals around Romania. We can
also mention the respect medical doctors across Romania enjoy, the way the
doctor-patient relationship is being built in the Western countries and how it
is created in Romania. Unfortunately, in Romania, the doctor-patient
relationship is basically a needs-based one, whereas the patient-doctor
relationship in the Western countries is based on respect and trust on the part
of the patient. The Romanians are not used to having total confidence in the
medical doctor, nay, they see the medical doctor as somebody they see when they
most need it, whenever they need that immediately. And that is clearly
reflected in the results of the anti-COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Romania.

The
aforementioned OECD report also states that 25% of Romania’s inhabitants
(young, for their most part) expressed their wish to relocate abroad and stay
there for good. It is of the biggest
percentages reported for the region, Almost half of the people aged 15 to 24
expressed their intention to emigrate. The implications of that for the
country’s labor force are tremendous. According to Vladimir Ionas, youngsters
do not live for a different paygrade alone, they also leave for a different way
of life.

Vladimir Ionas:

Taking the youngsters into account, we can speak about a different way
of life. We don’t need to believe that most of those who left, remained abroad
mainly because of a much greater income they could earn in a foreign country.
Oftentimes, in the case of those whose professional background is not that
strong, the paygrade is not necessarily much greater as compared to what they
could earn in Romania. It is about the standard of living, about the services
they benefit from when they interact with the state institutions, with the
healthcare system, it is about the education their children can get. We’re
speaking about several factors that lead up to that wish of the Romanians to leave
and settle somewhere abroad. Then again, just like with the medical doctors,
that definitely poses a big problem for the workforce, because a relevant
proportion of those who leave are higher education graduates, but that
shouldn’t come up as a surprise and then again, the lifestyle they have when
they go abroad prompts them to wish to stay there for good, which is very good
for them, but they also want that because they wish to offer their children a
much certain future.

In
recent years, the birth rate has seen a sensible decrease. However, according
to Vladimir Ionas, in 2021 things have changed for the better, quite
surprisingly.

Vladimir Ionas:

The birth rate issue is a compelling one, for Romania. It has seen a downward
trend for many years now. 2021 is the year when the birth rate has seen a
slight increase, somehow favored by the ongoing pandemic. It is hard to say
whether such a trend can be contained. The state needs to take very tough
measures to that effect. Why don’t we look at such countries as Hungary or
France, for instance, so that we can copy their measures leading up to the
increase of the birth rate. Hungary is the country with one of the toughest
policies favoring the birth rate increase, since they also have a big problem
with the demographic increase. That is what the political class should do -
understand what the priorities of the country are, realize the fact that the
demographic situation is extremely worrying and they should promote public
policies aimed at encouraging child birth. The are rather easy to implement.
Romania is not poor; it is a rich country that has resources so that such
programs can be created. Political will is most needed, first of all.

The
public policies, they need to be targeted and efficiently implemented. However,
in a country where they percentage of those who have their pensions is much
greater than the percentage of those whose work, the future looks rather grim.

Vladimir Ionas:

Unfortunately, to that end, it’s hard to believe we can change the trend
for the better. Around 20% of those who are over 18, medium-term, would like to
leave Romania and about 50% of the students who are freshmen, as we speak, or
2nd-year students at the university would like to leave for another
country when they graduate, so they can have better chances of personal
development and better-paid jobs. Again, I do not know if those working with
the state institutions ever thought of a solution to that problem, but we need
to be aware and realize that such a trend will cause the collapse of many
systems, the pension system, first of all. The state will no longer be able to
pay people’s pensions, I think, if the reported percentage of those who have
employment stands at 30%, whereas 70% of the people receive their pensions or
unemployment benefits. Concurrently, the healthcare system will be
underfinanced and will collapse, so we have a very big problem. That should be
the main debate topic at the level of the Romanian society, so that the
solutions can be identified to stem the exodus and to avoid the situation
where we have twice as many retired people as compared to those who work. It
should be the main debate topic for all state institutions.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)