The state-owned postal company Posta Romana remained the largest employer in Romania, with almost 36,000 employees. Surprisingly, it reported 1,000 more employees in 2011 against the previous year.
However, the largest private employer, OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), fired at least 1,700 employees over the course of last year.
The 20 largest employers in the economy have almost 240,000 employees or 6% of Romania’s workforce. The evolution of employee numbers in these companies may indicate if a company continued to invest or had to cut costs.
Data compiled by ZF show that over the course of last year over 11,700 jobs were cut by the top employers, while almost 4,600 people were hired.
As in previous years, Petrom and Romtelecom fired the most people, as they have been going through extensive restructuring for several years since their privatization. On the other hand, state-held companies, which have become the prime subject of officials’ speeches, especially in the presence of International Monetary Fund officials, have not focused very much on cutting costs through staff restructuring.
Whereas Romsilva, CFR and mining company Compania Nationala a Huilei fired almost 1,500 people, the postal company only cut 177 jobs.
“No hiring was done in 2011. These figures (35,830 employees at the end of December 2011) include all those who have fixed-term labor contracts and those with short-term collaboration contracts,” said Ion Martin, spokesperson for the Romanian postal company.
The company that hired the biggest number of employees last year was DIY retailer Dedeman, held by Paval brothers in Bacau. It recruited over 1,200. The company invested EUR60 million in five stores last year, continuing its expansion plan, with a view to reaching 40 stores. Automobile Dacia in turn hired over 1,000 people last year at its Mioveni plant.
In July 2011, the new Labor Code was enforced, and it may have prompted employers to bring employment contracts to light, by means of tougher fines.
Also, the labor market rebounded to some degree last year, after the crisis had wiped over 600,000 jobs from the economy. The unemployment rate continued to fall in 2011, with the number of employees up by at least 100,000, to 4.2 million.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)