Romanian Senate president and ALDE leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Thursday, September 27, that his party will initiate a draft bill to lift some of the restrictions for local companies that want to hire foreign workers, local Mediafax reported.

The most important change will be to allow local companies to pay these workers less than the average wage in Romania. This is an important obstacle in hiring foreign workers at the moment, because local employers are not allowed to pay them less than the average gross wage, which stood at over RON 4,500 (EUR 970) in July this year.

The new bill will allow employers to pay foreign workers the minimum gross wage, which is currently RON 1,900 (EUR 408) and will increase to RON 2,050 (EUR 440) in January 2019. This measure would help local companies in sectors where there is an acute labor shortage, such as constructions, hospitality and manufacturing industry, and where the salaries are close to the minimum wage.

The Government decided in August to increase the number of foreign workers who can be hired in Romania this year to 15,000, from the previously set level of 7,000.

Liberal senator Florin Citu said he had a similar initiative, which is currently under debate in the Chamber of Deputies.

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editor@romania-insider.com