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Romanian citizens migration for work social work essay

Babeş-Bolyai UniversityFaculty of Political, Administrative and Communication SciencesPublic Administration

Romanian citizens’ migration for work

Alina Daniela Miscoiu

Community Development and Urban Planning

Romanian citizens’ migration for work

The problem of public policy that I will present in this paper refers to the big number of persons that every year is leaving the country in order to find a better job abroad. First, I will try to define the term ” migration” and present some of its characteristics. Human migration is a physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups.[1]Migration can be internal, within a state (such as migration from the rural areas towards the urban ones) and external or international (from a state towards another state). Migration can also be temporary, when the migrant comes back in his country or definitive, when the person that had migrated never comes back. There is a third classification: forced migration. Forced migration exists when persons are moved against their will (slaves), or when the move is initiated because of external factors (natural disaster or civil war).[2]The great number of Romanian citizens that left the country in the last few years, the diversity of work domains from which they left, the fact that they are from all classes and all age groups, as well as the geographic diversity, lead us to the idea that we are facing a national phenomenon. Romanian citizens’ migration abroad is a big public policy problem because it generates a loss of 20 milliards of euro each year for the Romanian economy. It is estimated that in the last ten years, over three millions of people have crossed the country’s boarders in order to find a job and Romania’s Government has not created yet any policy to bring them back. In Romania, there are more pensioners than employees. We have one employee to 1. 2 pensioners. This is how the pension fund deficit can be explained. In 2012 it has exceeded three milliards of euro and it continues to increase. In the period before the economical crisis, in 2006, this pension budget even managed to register a surplus of over 320 millions of euro. A simple mathematical calculation shows that if we would have 2. 5 millions of extra Romanian employees with an average net salary of 340 euros per month, then the total salary level would grow with 18. 5 milliards of euro per year to 50 milliards of euro every year. From this sum at least 8. 25 milliards of euro would be collected for the state budgets from the contributions paid by the employers and employees for health, pensions, unemployment and the salary taxes. So, the rest of the money would be reflected in the consumption.[3]This is one of the biggest Romania’s problems – the small number of employees reported to the working population. Therefore, at present we have 4. 3 millions of employees, half of the value we had twenty years ago. Almost two millions of Romanians have left to work in Italy and Spain in the last few years. On the other hand, Romanians who work abroad have sent home over 53 milliards of euro, but this sum has dramatically decreased in the years of economical crisis, according to the information published by the National Romanian Bank. 2008 was the year that represented the top for the money sent in the country as well as for the number of people employed. The causes that led to the apparition of this problem are mainly economical, but the desire to leave the country is determined not only by small incomes, but also by the lack of trust in the educational system and the political class. Therefore, the poverty, the lack of jobs, the low wedges, the high unemployment, the overload, the precarious economical situation at national level and also the desire of self-improvement and a better living for children and family, determined a big part of the population to leave the country in searching a better paid job. According to the ” Economical crisis’ impact on Romanian workforce’s migration” study, Romanians think that they are forced to leave to work abroad because they have lost their jobs or their incomes have significantly decreased and real chances to succeed are only abroad. Romania is considered ” poor, miserable, corrupt, poorly led and without opportunities”.[4]The study also shows that not only those who have relatives abroad are willing to migrate, but also people from almost every generation, with diverse training and very different ages. People who initiated the study have said that all population categories share the same opinion, that migration rather ” contributes to Romania’s development” and ” helps people who leave to see how is the living in other countries”, but also that ” migration leads to family division”, ” makes people be interested only in money” and emphasizes the social differences between poor and rich people. The study also shows that migrants who come back in the country consider that they live worse or much worse in Romania than abroad because incomes are not sufficient, the general situation in Romania is characterized by poverty, corruption, bad laws, lack of opportunities and lack of jobs. Very few people live better and this occurs only because they are home, with their families.[5]Together with the fall of communism, beginning with 1990, the migration phenomena began to grow. There were three main periods for the external migration:- 1990-1992 was the phase of ethnicity and religious affiliation. In this period, the Germans and Hungarians left towards their ancestors’ countries of origin;- 1993-2000 represents the stage in which most Romanians left the country for good;- after 2000, more specifically after 2007 it was the economical motivation phase, represented through the temporary external migration for work. According to some statistical data, between 1990 and 1996 255. 034 Romanian citizens decided to migrate. Over time, the number of migrants has grown significantly, in 2006 reaching 14. 197, in 2008 61. 400 and in the first semester of 2010, 72. 000.[6]In the period of 1990-1992, people left the country without being supported or helped by someone else. Only 22% of the people that left for work in that period were helped by someone. With the increase of departures, the personal networks also began to grow such that in 1993-2000, 40% of the migrants have benefited from help and after 2000 their proportion increased to 60%. According to the same statistical data, the migration structured on age emphasizes young people’s higher tendency to leave the country, of those who have bigger chances of professional achievements. Therefore, almost 50% of the migrants are people aged between 26 and 39 years, people already formed and able to work. In the last few years, we can observe that younger and younger people start to leave the country, graduates or students in final years, aged between 18 and 24, who are also willing to work and have better lives. Therefore, higher education graduates represent approximately 10-12% of the total persons legally migrated. The migrants that have technical and professional studies represent approximately 9%. A third of the total of persons that have migrated is represented by people who finished just primary school or gymnasium. One of the most important categories of people that began to leave the country in big numbers in the last few years is formed by doctors. The phenomenon of migration among Romanian doctors has particularly increased following Romania’s adhesion to the European Union. More than 8000 doctors have left the country in the last three years, Romania becoming the country that has the smallest number of doctors per one thousand persons from a total of 42 countries.[7]The World Health Organization considers that if more than 1% of a country’s doctors choose to practice in other countries, then there is a problem and if more than 5% of the doctors are in this situation then the causes must be identified and specific prevention measures against migration should be taken. In our country more than 10% of the doctors have left, but no measures have been taken by the authorities.[8]The first three countries that doctors choose as their destinations are in order Germany, Great Britain and France and the main specializations from which they decide to leave are general practice and general surgery. The main causes that led to the departure of most of the doctors are the small incomes, the excessive politicization of the sanitary system, the more efficient means and devices that doctors can use in foreign hospitals, their dissatisfaction with the lack of medicines and sanitary materials and also their social position. If doctors are considered in Romania as simply clerks, in foreign countries they have a very different, superior status. More than a third of Romania’s households have had at least one of the family’s members living abroad after 1989 is what the study ” Temporary Living abroad. Romanians’ economical migration” shows. At the individual level, the proportion of people of 18 to 59 years old who have worked abroad after 1989 is of 12%. The phenomenon’s intensity has grown especially after 2002 with the free circulation within the Schengen area for Romanians. Nowadays, the temporary leaving for work phenomenon is approximately three times bigger than it was in 2002.[9]The most important domains in which people go to work abroad are construction for men, domestic work for women and agriculture for both men and women. Illegal practice of jobs is very high in what concerns the domestic work and agriculture. It is more and more common that the migrant searching for a job has already a relative at the destination who is ” arranging” for him a place to work, usually a clandestine one. The proportion of those who have worked illegaly is increasing, from 34% in 1990-1995 to 53% after 2001. At present, Italy and Spain are the main destinations that Romanians choose to work in. Possible explanations for most Romanian people choosing to leave towards these two countries could refer to cultural similiarities, the local authorities’ flexibility of accepting foreign migrants, even illegal ones, and the existence, at least in Italy, of Romanians who have facilitated other Romanians’ migration through migration networks. The unofficial statistical data show that in Italy are approximately one million of Romanian people from which only 300. 000 have official documents. Population’s migration from rural areas towards the urban ones as well as from the urban areas towards overseas leads to the apparition of serious social problems, such as: the loss of specialized staff, like doctors, teachers, caretakers, people who work in agriculture and zootechny; the apparition of some additional care needs for children and old people who have no family in the country; the development of a young generation with serious psychological problems; the disappearance of the traditional caring, in the family, by its members, which makes that the need for specialized modern services to become much bigger than the estimated one; the excessive aging of the population from rural areas, which will substantially affect Romania’s agriculture. This migration phenomenon influences in a certain measure the whole population of the country. The main negative consequences of temporary migration for work are those that are reflected directly on the families: family removal, the suffering of those who remain at home, family division and indirectly on the employers who feel the lack of specialized and qualified labor force. The number of Romanian children affected by their parents’ migration was of 350. 000 in 2008, from which 126. 000 were affected by the migration of both parents and half of these were under ten years old. 16% of the children with both parents being migrants had spent more than one year apart from them and 3% even more than four years. The departure of both parents, especially in very young children’s cases, accompanied by a poor socio-economical framework both at family and community level, represent probably the main factors in creating situations of vulnerability and exposure to bigger risks. The vulnerability risk is greater if:•both parents have migrated (1/3 of the total of affected children);•children are very young (under 6 years old) and parents stay abroad more than 6 months;•the rural residential environment (52% of the total number of children);•families have a low economic status before the migration and the social support network is underdeveloped;•the community does not have adequate social services.[10]Another important consequence of migration is that it has produced a migration culture by becoming socially accepted and by encouraging rural youth that is confronted with the unpredictability of the Romanian labor market to find in migration a solution to ensure themselves constant incomes which are necessary in order to form a family and to become an adult. In what concerns the legislation that specifies the way in which the problem could be solved, I can mention the main law in charge, the 248/2005 Law regarding Romanian citizens’ free movement abroad. This law offers the concrete legal framework for legal situations in which a Romanian citizen may leave the country, in this way diminishing the illegal migration phenomenon. Through this law, Romanian citizens have the right, if they accomplish the legal conditions, to travel abroad, to migrate and come back in the country whenever they want to and through it there are also established fundamental European principles about minors’ protection.[11]Also, after an extensive public consultation, the Minister of Administration and Interior has emitted the Order no. 825/2005, subsequently amended through the M. A. I. Order no. 900/ 2005, which regulates conditions that concern the documents and the minimum sum of money Romanian citizens must have when they travel outside the country, in the Schengen space. Through this normative document the authorities wanted to discourage the illegal migration as well as the criminal acts Romanians commit abroad. In my opinion, the main institution responsible with solving this problem is the Ministry of Work, Family and Social Protection, which is in charge of the problems related to employment and the labor market. It is also the Management Authority for the European Union’s funds intended for the Sectoral Operational Program for Development of Human Resources. The role of this institution in solving the problem is emphasized by the fact that this ministry is able to contribute to the reduction of the migration phenomenon by implementing some public policy projects on labor migration, integrated in a coherent way in the general policies on labor force, which could contribute to the improvement of the functioning Romanian labor market and to the stimulation of economical growth. The resources that the Ministry of Work, Family and Social Protection has are financial, human resources, informational ones. Therefore, in order to achieve a project on the migration problem, the Ministry of Work, Family and Social Protection can dispose of all kinds of resources such as specialized staff, information and also money from the ministry’s budget or from different European funds.[12]Some other institution that could help in solving the problem is in my opinion the National Agency for Employment and its territorial structures from each county of the country. These are working as decentralized public institutions and represent the most important structure at the territorial level of implementation of policies and programs in what concerns the labor market. The County Agencies for Employment can play a great role in fighting the migration phenomenon as they have as main objectives the institutionalization of the social dialogue in the employment and training domain, the strategies’ application in the employment and training domain, the social measures’ application to the persons who are looking for a job, the reduction of unemployment, the increase of employment, the increase of the efficiency of the active measures.[13]These institutions also have access to different kinds of resources such as qualified staff, own budget and European social funds, access to information, but also the possibility to dispose of space for organizing different centers of information and counseling in what concerns career and centers of professional training. Another important actor in solving this problem is the National Agency for Employment’s Direction of Labor Migration and International Relations, which tries to fight this public policy problem by establishing its purposes very clear. The most important role of this institution is to elaborate the basic principles of the state’s policies in the labor migration domain and to contribute to the harmonization at international standards of the national legislation in the labor migration domain. Another important role of this institution is to implement the stipulations of national law in the migration field. This Direction also elaborates propositions in what concerns the development strategies and reform solutions in migration field. Monitoring and realizing the intergovernmental agreements about work relationships and social protection of the migrant workers is also one of the roles of this authority.[14]One of the solutions that I would recommend in order to solve the migration problem would be to encourage the practice and development of agriculture by offering some kind of advantages like giving young people some free lands to work on and share the profit with the state. In this way, the financial situation of the Romanian citizens could be significantly improved by convincing the labor force, especially the young one, to remain in the country. This solution could be achieved with the help and through public institutions. These institutions can deal with programs and information and financing campaigns for the citizens, trying to convince them that agriculture can ensure them a decent life in Romania. Through these institutions, also can be accessed certain funds and grants given to the citizens in order to encourage them to work in agriculture. So, among the most important institutions that plead against migration, we can recall: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the Direction for Agriculture and County Development, the National Agency of Agricultural Consulting, the Pay and Intervention Agency for Agriculture. Another way to put this solution in practice would be with the help of nonprofit organizations, which also organize campaigns and different programs with the aim to promote agriculture and diminish this problem of public policy. For example, ONG BIOS is an organization which deals with research, education, training, consulting and application of the best practices in the agriculture, environmental protection and sustainable development fields. This organization’s purpose is the promotion of sustainable development by offering to all willing people information that would permit them to improve their lives as well as the economical, ecological and social situation of the country. Another solution would be to create some jobs that would be paid at least at a close level to those from foreign countries, also members of the European Union, in order to offer people a better chance to survive and be able to support their families and not to be attracted of the idea of leaving the country anymore. I think this solution could be implemented by attracting foreign investors. Here, also the NGOs could help in solving the problem. For example, there are 53 NGOs, unions, institutions, universities and persons that form Rosia Montana Project’s Support Group, which is supposed to create over 2300 direct jobs in the period of the mine construction, 800 direct jobs during exploitation and a total of 3600 jobs during operation and the employee’s incomes will be twice than the average of the earnings at the national economical level.[15]The last solution I found refers to developing some information and labor recruitment campaigns for the Romanian citizens who work abroad, by offering them a similar life and working conditions to the ones from the countries they left to work in. In this way, it could be obtained the return of many Romanians and also the others’ persuasion to stay in the country. This solution is anyway very hard to accomplish because the majority of Romanians who left have already children who speak Spanish, French, Italian at least as well as they speak Romanian, are well integrated and in order to even make them take into consideration the possibility to come back in Romania, they need to be offered something much better than what the Romanian political class had offered in the last 22 years: something or someone who can inspire trust and confidence. The nonprofit organizations could also help in implementing this solution. For example, UNICEF Romania has organized a public debate with the aim to identify the best practices and measures that could prevent and act in favor of children affected by their parents’ migration, children that are vulnerable. So, following this discussion, two messages have been formulated: one addressed to the parents, which specifies: ” You should keep contact with your children even if they are far away” and a second one, addressed to the authorities, which underlines: ” It is important for you to find the right mechanism to help these children”.[16]According to a study, persons who have worked abroad have a specific behavioral profile: they are more critical in what concerns Romania’s situation, but at the same time are more optimistic about the future. They come back having superior aspirations, which favor the social critics about the situation of the locality in which they live as well as the critics about Romania’s actual social situation. Also, persons who did not work abroad, but are willing to leave to work there, are the most unsatisfied with the locality and the country. The dynamic optimism, which means dissatisfaction with the present and trust in the future, is specific to those who intend to migrate and to those from the households who already have migrants. At the opposite pole, is the chronic pessimism which appears especially in households that lack migration experience.[17]In conclusion, the Romanian state has always been and still is an indifferent passive actor of the massive migration of Romanian people as Romanian institutions have not undertaken any important measure to support Romanians from abroad or to help their relatives that remained in the country. This passivity, indifference and lack of professionalism in approaching migration are at least questionable. It results that the problem of public policy I analyzed in this paper is pretty difficult to solve as our country does not show any economical improvements, people become poorer and poorer and they still feel the need to try to find a better life elsewhere.

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