The New York Times
April 11, 2007
Romania, a Poor Land, Imports Poorer Workers
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER
BACAU, Romania To get around the chronic labor shortages
hampering this traditional textile center and in other industries
across Romania, Sorin Nicolescu, who runs a clothing factory, came
up with an original solution: import 800 workers from China.
The explanation is very simple, said Mr. Nicolescu, general
manager of a Swiss concern, the Wear Company. We dont have any
Romanian workers because they have all left to work in Western and
Central Europe.
Foreign investors have been attracted to Romania, a poor Balkan
country, because of its low wages and, since Jan. 1, its membership
in the European Union. At the same time, those low wages and
freedom of movement through Europe, which is now easier, have been
fueling a wave of emigration that threatens to slow an economic
boom in recent years in Romania.
This was happening before we joined the E.U., said Ana Murariu, a
production manager at Wear. Now its even worse.
Romania, a nation of 21.6 million (and declining 0.2 percent
annually), received 9 billion euros, or about $12 billion, in
foreign direct investment last year. That helped the economy grow
last year as much as 7 percent, with an unemployment rate in
January of 5.4 percent well below the European Union
average.
But with monthly wages averaging around $375 after taxes, roughly
two million people, or more than 8 percent of the population, have
left since the Stalinist government of President Nicolae V.
Ceausescu fell in 1989, according to analysts estimates.
Italy and Spain are the most popular destinations for Romanian
workers, where they usually perform manual labor, legally and
illegally, and generally for lower wages than local people.
Mr. Nicolescu said he decided to look for workers in China because
he had contracts there, and those companies had put him in touch
with an employment agency. Those who are hired pay about $2,000 for
transportation and the employment agencys fee, according to one
worker.
Once they reach Bacau, a drab industrial city of 181,000 some 150
miles northeast of the capital, Bucharest, they go to work in a
large, inconspicuous warehouse on the outskirts of town.
Inside, about 170 Chinese women operate sewing machines attached to
tables stacked with finished and unfinished garments. Most of the
tables, arranged in long rows, are empty. The plant expects 500
more Chinese workers by the end of May.
The factory is clean, freshly painted and well lighted. The only
sound is the rapid, repetitive thud of the sewing machines as the
workers stitch together previously tailored pieces of garments.
They make mostly sportswear for a range of brands, including Prada
and Carrefour. All the production is for export.
Mr. Nicolescu said he paid the women about $347 a month after
taxes. The legal minimum wage is 132 euros a month ($176) after
taxes.
The company operated with Romanian workers until 2003, when
operations were suspended because the work force had dwindled to
200. Mr. Nicolescu said the company had posted hundreds of job
offers at a local agency, but they had gone unanswered.
Its very difficult work, and its not well paid, Mr. Nicolescu
acknowledged. He said the industry found it hard to attract young
workers to replace the current ones, most of whom are nearing
retirement.
Im not very pleased about working with foreign workers because I
have to provide them food and housing on top of their salaries,
Mr. Nicolescu said. That amounts to $130 a month for each employee,
he said, in addition to more than $500,000 he has spent building
worker dormitories.
Critics say the company would find Romanian workers if it offered
better wages. But Mr. Nicolescu replied that higher wages would
make his products uncompetitive internationally, pointing out that
textile manufacturers had already left much of Europe in search of
lower costs in regions like China.
Cornelia Barbu, deputy director of the Bacau County employment
agency, said inspectors had thoroughly inspected conditions for the
Chinese workers. They are treated very well, she said. They have
a social club and a kitchen. They live much better than most of the
Romanians living abroad.
Xiu Xian Hong, from Fujian Province, who came here last July,
described life as better than in China.
It is quiet here, and the air is much cleaner, she said through a
translator who worked at the plant. The work is the same, but the
pay is more. But she said she missed her 3-year-old daughter and
her husband back home.
Ms. Xiu said she had come to Romania because it was the only place
being offered when she sought work at an agency in China. She said
she planned to stay at least three years, hoping to save enough
money to start a business, perhaps a shop, when she returned.
Although the city center is easily accessible by public
transportation, the workers spend most of their free time in
five-bed dormitory rooms in the factory complex, playing cards,
reading books and watching Chinese satellite television.
Few local residents have seen the workers in town. People in a city
park one recent afternoon said that they had learned about their
new neighbors from newspapers and television.
Our people have gone to the West and all over the world, so we
need others to replace them, said Dumitru Padure, a retired
aircraft factory technician.
Andrea Grigoras, a translator, sitting with her toddler daughter,
expressed the view that the Chinese workers received better pay
than Romanians and would probably be more focused than Romanian
workers. I know a lot of Romanians who would do the work for
less, she said, adding: Im not worried. But Id get worried if
there were many foreign workers coming here.
A variety of intra-European transportation links here illustrates
the scale of emigration. A discount Romanian-based airline, Blue
Air, offers six direct flights a week from Bacau to Italy two to
Turin and four to Rome. A bus company, Atlassib, one of many, runs
10 buses daily to Italy from Bacau.
The population of Romania is projected to fall by 29 percent, below
15.5 million, by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau
in Washington. Villages and towns outside Bucharest have been hit
especially hard.
Ms. Barbu of the Bacau employment agency suggested that wages would
need to reach levels about three-quarters of those in the West for
Romanian workers to return.
We have to get used to it because the E.U. means greater
mobility, she said. Just as we have left, others will come
here.