The labor shortage is Romania’s biggest problem, alongside the lack of infrastructure, according to the coordinators of the RePatriot program, a local initiative by the Romanian Business Leaders organization aimed at bringing back the Romanians living and working abroad.

“The problem is not only that a part of the Romanians have left, the problem is that people keep leaving all the time and the return rhythm is very low,” said Marius Bostan, one of the initiators of the RePatriot project.

The project’s initiators believe that the state authorities are ignoring this problem and the opportunity of bringing back these people, who would also help change mentalities in Romania.

“These millions of people are a resource. If we evaluate their accumulated experience, they can be Romania’s greatest wealth,” Bostan said.

Some 3.4 million Romanians left the country between 2007 and 2017, according to international statistics. In the last ten years, they sent home an estimated EUR 55 billion, according to Bostan.

editor@romania-insider.com