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Romania is very ambitious as far as the employment targets committed to at the Porto Summit are concerned, having pledged to increase the employment rate to 76 percent, and the European Commission is ready to support this reform on the labor market, visiting European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit told a news conference on Thursday.
"I think what is important now is that we very actively focus on the social dimension, with aspects such as job creation. This is also important in terms of active labor market policies, including the modernization of the Romanian public employment service. The Commission is ready to support this reform, skilling is an absolute priority not only for Romania, but for all countries, because we are going through a period of deep changes in the labor markets and if you look at the automotive sector, which is very present in Romania, I believe that in ten years there will be changes in this sector, therefore people need to be re-skilled in order to adapt to these changes," Schmit said.
He emphasized that youth unemployment or youth guarantees are another issue, and the European Commission is willing to support the Romanian government to help young people enter the labor market by implementing the Youth Guarantee. The European official also referred to poverty, emphasizing that it is a serious issue in Romania, as many people here live in poverty, starting with children.
"Therefore, the implementation of the Child Guarantee is very important, so that all children are given better opportunities, better care, better education, better nutrition. There are discussions around the Child Guarantee and old-age poverty. We are talking here about pensions and fighting poverty. This was one of the Porto Summit targets, to reduce poverty, and you say you want to reduce it by 2.5 million people, and this is where the issue of pensions comes in, which is very important," Schmit noted, Agerpres.ro informs.
Asked about the way the war will impact the labor market, he said that "first of all, we need to make sure that this war does not lead to a new economic crisis in Europe".
"Fortunately for Romania, you are in a situation where you are almost autonomous, you are in a very good energy situation, which is very good. Romania's economy has grown considerably and that's what I also wish you, that you have sustainable growth, that you invest in new activities, in people and keep the capable young people in Romania, which also means that you have to guarantee them a good education, but also good salaries and opportunities for quality, well-paid jobs. Our purpose is to fight poverty that can affect anyone, especially those who still have a long working life ahead and who should not be required to fight poverty, first and foremost through a strong economy. That's the role of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, to transform and strengthen the economy, but it is clear that we must also pay attention to the social situation and make sure that certain parts of the population do not remain in poverty," the European Commissioner explained.
He added that decent wages should be ensured for the working people and pointed out that, according to the statistics, the number of people collecting the minimum wage has risen sharply in Romania.
"That's why we very much promote social dialogue and collective bargaining. It's not normal for so many people to live on the minimum wage," Nicolas Schmit said.
He also remarked that in many countries there is a shortage of skilled labor and therefore investing more in people is a challenge and Romania needs to step up its efforts for continuous skilling, for lifelong learning and professional retraining.
"This goes for Romania, but also for the other 26 member states, so it is a common challenge. Another problem is that the population of Europe is aging, so I would be quite cautious about the issue of immigration from outside Europe," the European Commissioner said.
