Eastern Europe struggles to bring back its workers[fr][de] 

Despite ongoing labour restrictions in a number of older EU countries, Bulgarian and Romanian nationals are finding job opportunities throughout the Union, often on the black market. 

According to economists, the money being sent back home by these workers is equal to the amount of foreign direct investment entering the country over the same period of time. However, the two countries now need their immigrants back if these people are to make their economies work rather than just help their families to survive.

Romanian job fairs in Italy 

The Romanian Ministry of Labour has been organising job fairs in Italy and Spain in an attempt to convince Romanian workers to return to their country. The next such event is due to take place on 21 June in Torino, Italy. A similar fair last February was visited by some 800 Romanians working in Italy and, according to press reports, some 100 Romanians returned to work in their home country afterwards. 

The rather modest success can be explained by the fact that the companies present at the fair are offering monthly salaries of €600-700 to prospective returnees, which is below the expectations of the migrant workers. Some stated they would not return to Romania unless offered 1,000 euros a month. 

Salaries in Romania nevertheless reach attractive levels for highly-qualified engineers capable of managing projects, especially in the field of road construction. The manager of the company Colas SA Stefan Hanganu was quoted by the weekly Financiarul as saying that such highly qualified specialists already get as much as €2,000-3,000 a month. 

But such personnel is hard to find. A recent study by Manpower Inc., a company specialised in the employment services industry, revealed that Romania is currently the hardest place on earth for a business to find highly qualified personnel (EurActiv 25/04/08).

Most Romanians are willing to return from abroad, but many are waiting until the opportunities back home improve. A study by a Romanian government agency reveals that one third of the Romanians living in Italy wish to return home for good in the next two years. 31% wish to build a house in Romania, 23% wish to start a business there and only 21% wish to stay in Italy longer than two years. Almost all keep in close contact with their home country, with three quarters of them going there at least once a year. The situation is similar for Bulgarians abroad, most of whom wish to return after having earned a small amount of capital. 

Salaries doubled for Bulgarian nurses and doctors 

Labour migration is hurting Bulgaria even more as its labour market is three times smaller than Romania's. A Commission representative recently warned that labour migration will make it difficult for Bulgaria to take advantage of EU structural funds. The acute deficit of workers is causing delays and is putting infrastructure projects in jeopardy, he said, quoted by the daily Dnevnik. 

Salaries in Bulgaria are also lower than in Romania. In 2006, Bulgaria had the lowest hourly labour costs (€1.65) among all 27 EU member states, according to Eurostat. Top of the table was Sweden with a rate twenty times higher (€32.16). According to the same statistics Romania had hourly labour costs of €2.68. 

Of particular concern is the fact that poor pay levels are causing an exodus of medical personnel in Bulgaria. Already 29,000 nurses have left the country – roughly half the estimated number needed in hospitals for them to function properly. Indeed, mortality in hospitals is often blamed on the shortage of nurses, but these are nevertheless choosing to work abroad on the black, taking care of elderly people, especially in Greece and Italy. 

Last week the Bulgarian government raised the salaries of medical personnel by 90-100%. The decision was controversial as it raises expectations of similar treatment from other categories of employees. But medics will still only receive a very modest income by Western standards: an experienced doctor working for a state-owned hospital will not get more than €500 a month. 

A government strategy on Migration and Integration suggests that bringing in foreign labour force of Bulgarian ethnic origin should be a priority. With 700,000 Bulgarians having left the country since 1989 and several hundreds of thousands of ethnic Bulgarians historically living in Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Moldova, the idea appears attractive at first sight. But then again, offering attractive opportunities remains highly problematic as the average salaries in the countries mentioned are often higher than in Bulgaria. 

NGOs in Bulgaria and Romania recommend involving fragile strata of the population, such as Roma, in addressing the labour shortage. But this can only be a long-term goal, as most companies consider Roma to be unemployable. A first step would be to improve the education and training of Roma. Programmes are underway but the results are yet to be seen. 

Asian workers filling the gap 

Bulgarian businessmen accompanied the minister of labour on a recent visit to Vietnam to explore conditions for hiring Vietnamese workers in the construction building sector. Some 2,000 positions are immediately available, according to Ivan Boykov, the chairman of Bulgaria's Construction Building Chamber. Now it is up to the governments to negotiate, while also taking into account past negative experiences. Indeed, in the 1980s there were already thousands of Vietnamese workers in Bulgaria. But when the economy collapsed and there was no need for them, they did not want to leave. Their repatriation was a huge effort for both governments. 

Poles returning home 

While studies show that the number of Romanians willing to work abroad is growing, in Poland, the reverse trend is starting to apply. The total number of Polish workers abroad is estimated to be superior to that of nationals from all the remaining nine Eastern European countries put together. They are particularly numerous in the UK, many of them doing what a British newspaper called "the £100 a day job local workers won't do". But as the Polish economy steadily develops, Poles are starting to return home. A key reason is that many Poles who had been forced to accept foreign jobs below their qualifications are now being offered high-skilled jobs in their country. Salaries may be smaller than in the West, but life at home is cheaper. 

The fact that there are fewer nationals of the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Hungary working abroad is generally seen as a sign that their economies provide competitive job opportunities. According to official statistics, only 76,400 Czech citizens work in EU countries but in reality there could be even fewer, as many Czechs have terminated their contracts in countries like the UK, but have not signed out of the public register. Although labour migration is not an acute problem in these countries, experienced businessmen told EurActiv.cz that the Czech Republic is in serious need of skilled workers, like engineers, builders and craftsmen. 

The language barrier 

Factors such as language barriers are also seen as deterrents to labour migration. There are not many Hungarians working abroad - approximately 70-80,000 have left the country for Western Europe. The press reports that most of them have had language problems at employment interviews. Many are already returning to Hungary, or work in neighbouring regions as commuters. Due to their geographic position, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia benefit much more from cross-border commuting and cross-border business opportunities than Romania and Bulgaria.