PM Orban promises jobs to the 700,000 jobless Romanians

Some 700,00 Romanians are seeking jobs, according to estimates presented by prime minister Ludovic Orban, quoted by Mediafax.

The massive transport infrastructure projects to be launched by the Government under a long-term economic reconstruction program will absorb part of them. The Government will also help large companies to expand (and hire more), PM Orban said in an interview with Digi24 TV channel, Economica.net reported.

The 700,000 unemployed Romanians account for the equivalent of an unemployment rate of 7.8% (under ILO methodology), compared to 4.6% reported by the statistics office for April.

Half of the Romanians seeking jobs have returned from abroad, PM Orban mentioned. Some 1.2 million people have returned to the country since February, according to the Government's estimates previously mentioned by Orban. The remaining 350,000 Romanians seeking jobs are those reported by the statistics office before the coronavirus pandemic in February.

PM Orban expressed hopes that most of the Romanians currently seeking jobs would eventually be employed as an effect of the Government's planned economic reconstruction plan. In addition to transport infrastructure projects, the program will include energy infrastructure projects and other projects such as the three major regional hospitals, Orban said.

"We are massively increasing public investments in transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure, health infrastructure, communications infrastructure, and education infrastructure," the prime minister said.

In addition to the program to support local SMEs - IMM Invest (EUR 3 bln bank loans for firms), the Government also plans to develop several support programs for larger companies.

"We are preparing a program for medium and large companies, under which we will guarantee loans and subsidize the interest, to ensure working capital and investments. We will also support greenfield investments through the state aid mechanism," the PM promised.

The Government will follow very carefully the relocations that will take place in the next period, aiming to attract important companies that want to relocate to Europe.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)