Romania employees start returning to work

The number of employees sent temporarily home by their employers amid lack of activity decreased by almost 130,000 from the peak registered on April 9, to about 902,000 on April 16, according to data from the Labor Ministry.

Additionally, some 80,000 employees in the automotive industry returned to work on April 21.

"It is a very good thing. It is the first step towards economic recovery," stated Florin Godean, country manager at recruiting agency Adecco Romania & Hungary.

He added that last week, for the first time since March, Adecco sent more candidates to companies seeking to employ.

In the meantime, the number of contracts terminated by employers has continued to increase, but slowly, Mediafax reported without providing details.

Tudor Polak, a secretary of state in the Ministry of Labor, argued that the decrease in the number of suspended labor contracts last week was not caused by some of these contracts being terminated. The number of labor contracts terminated was only around "several thousand per day" during April 9-16, Polak said.

Employees who have their labor contracts suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis receive unemployment benefits amounting to 75% of their wages, paid from the state budget.

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