The number of employees in Romania is now 5.58 million, 66,000 more than "during the Social Democrat Government," labor minister Violeta Alexandru wrote in a Facebook post, on an electoral note. She claims that the number of labor contracts declined by only 664 compared to the beginning of this year, 9am.ro reported.

Publishing the number of contracts suspended or terminated by employers doesn't make sense anymore, "because the Social Democrats are misinterpreting them, spreading fake news," the minister added.

"600,000 contracts interrupted in the pandemic does NOT mean that we have 600,000 unemployed. Some of them [the employees] had, for instance, several contracts. Some employers have preferred to close contracts and open new ones," explains minister Alexandru.

While her figures hardly match those of the statistics office INS, the decrease in the number of employees at the end of May was indeed moderate. However, at that time, local companies were still receiving Government incentives to keep their employees.

According to the statistics office, the number of employees in the Romanian economy was 4.89 million at the end of May (latest data available), 80,100 fewer than at the end of last year, and 86,600 (1.7%) fewer than one year earlier.

Former labor minister in the Social Democrat Government, Marius Budai, claimed previously that "over 890,000 employment contracts have been terminated, of which more than half were single contracts." 

(Photo: Violeta Alexandru Facebook Page)

editor@romania-insider.com