The counties located near Romania’s Western border have 0% unemployment because multinationals, many of which benefitted from state aid, opened offices where it was easier to transport goods to the EU, closer to the highways network, labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu said yesterday, reports local Capital.ro.

On the other side, there are many counties in Eastern and Southern Romania where the unemployment exceeds 5%.

Companies in Romania have EUR 500 million from EU funds to train apprentices, but only 229 people have been trained through this program so far, Vasilescu said. The program could be used to keep Romanians in the country. The minister said that she was surprised that the business environment hasn’t accessed the money.

Last year, about 210,000 Romanians left the country to work abroad, a record level in recent years, according to Labor Ministry data.

editor@romania-insider.com