Romanian company to hire Serbian workers as western part of country is faced with electricians shortage

A company in charge with electricity lines maintenance in Timis county, in western Romania, is looking to hire electricians from Serbia as local labor force is proving difficult to find, Profit.ro reports. The labor force crisis in the energy sector deepened over the past three years, Horatiu Rada, an associate and administrator of Timisoara based Cons Electrificarea Instal, told Profit.ro. The company he manages employs between 100 and 120 people and ensures the maintenance of electricity lines in Timis county. According to Rada, there is a “terrible crisis” of personnel in this field. In order to keep their businesses going, many companies look for unqualified workers, send them to training, then hire them and provide additional training. Rada told Profit.ro that the company he manages recently trained over 40 people. Starting salaries for electricians stand at EUR 445 (RON 2,000) per month, and various incentives, such as accommodation, transport or free training, are added to this. A more experienced electrician can earn as much as EUR 667 (RON 3,000) a month, plus meal vouchers and bonuses for extra hours. Many however prefer to work smaller jobs, for incomes that don’t always get reported. Cons Electrificarea Instal currently has 30 available electrician positions, Profit.ro reports, and candidates are offered housing in fully furnished apartments in Timisoara, transport to work, coverage of transport expenses to their place of residence over the weekend, and bonuses. Training students to become electricians is one of the solutions companies found to the current crisis. Cons Electrificarea Instal already has such a pilot project, where they provide scholarships and training to students starting their first high school year. But until these students graduate, bringing electricians from Serbia seems another option. Still, to be able to hire them, the company needs to pay the average salary for Romania, a gross EUR 696 (RON 3,130), in accordance with labor force protection legislation imposed by the European Commission. “But you cannot pay the labor force you bring from outside these money from the very beginning: there is an accommodation period, investments in technology, training and so on,” Rada told Profit.ro. Companies in Romania are currently confronted with a scarce specialized workforce in many areas. Shipyards have been complaining that its very difficult to find welders while companies in agriculture find it increasingly difficult to find qualified tractor drivers and mechanics. Romania's unemployment rate reached the lowest level since 2008 in December of last year, with only 506,758 unemployed. Romania has third highest talent shortage in the world