EC wants to tackle historic high unemployment by lifting restrictions for Romanian workers and creating more jobs

The European Commission wants to take new measures to create new jobs by diminishing taxes on salaries, supporting new companies and lifting restrictions for Romanian and Bulgarian workers, among others. “Restrictions on free labor market access to workers from Bulgaria and Romania are still maintained by nine member states, despite the overall positive impact that labor mobility from these countries has had on the economy of receiving countries,” writes the EC in its recent report, 'Towards a job-rich recovery'. While recognizing the right to apply these restrictions until the end of 2013, according to the Accession Treaty, the Commission underlines the importance of gradually preparing to apply in full the EU law on free movement for Bulgarian and Romanian workers, indicates the report. With 24.5 million Europeans unemployed, a record high, the EU is struggling to find more ways to create new jobs, and is looking at removing obstacles to finding a job in another EU country and improving coordination of employment policies across Europe. The EC recently presented a series of measures meant to improve unemployment numbers, which is now at some 10 percent across the EU, on average. If implemented, the recommendations made by the EC will help the EU get 75 percent of people aged 20-64 in work by 2020, which is one of the main goals of the 'Europe 2020' growth strategy. The current unemployment rate is not entirely due to the lack of jobs across the EU. Estimates show that by 2015, the EU will lack 2.7 million skilled workers in the IT, health and research sectors. The EC hopes to modernize job markets, help improve job quality and working conditions, help match skills to jobs and create new jobs by cutting red tape and addressing legal obstacles to hiring, firing, setting up new companies and self-employment. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: EC)