CHANGES IN LABOUR FORCE EXTERNAL MOBILITY MODEL FOR ROMANIANS. MAIN RESTRICTIONS AND CHALLENGES

The strongest determination of external labour mobility is given by the economicdevelopment level from the country of destination and the superior equivalent income that might beobtained by wage employment or entrepreneurship, as compared with the country of origin. Labourimmigrants represent the overwhelming share of immigrants (OECD, 2008). For less developedcountries, labour migration generates potential losses that cannot be substituted by remittances orother ‘soft‘ advantages which pertain to the labour market due to the increasingly longer period oftemporary migration.In the present paper we highlight the shifts in size and intensity of labour mobility flows forRomanians in the last decade. It is underpinned that the highest mobility propensity was registeredamong youths who, paradoxically to the economic growth context couldn‘t find adequate jobs in thecountry and accepted employment abroad - under conditions of underemployment, over-qualification and sometimes even in other fields of activity than the professional training profile.The first 5 countries of destination change the hierarchy in the Romanians‘ preferences. Thischange of destinations signifies also a change of the structure according to educational level andprofile, decreasing the share of those with tertiary training, but not also the absolute number whichis increasing. Quantitatively, we lose more high-skilled youths.