The number of employees increased by 54,300 from May (when the new Labor Code took effect) until June, show the latest data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS). Over the same period, Labor Inspection representatives reported a number of 587,609 new labor contracts. Virtually, there would be 10 labor contracts for each employee recently registered with the INS, which is hard to believe.
The problem is that the Labor Inspection reported only the number of new labor contracts, not including those that are terminated during a period.
The only recent data on the number of terminated labor contracts refer to 128,800 labor contracts out of the almost 730,000 contracts signed in the May 1-July 25 period, presented by Labor minister Sebastian Lazaroiu.
Practically, over 243,000 new labor contracts have been signed monthly since May, out of which 43,000 were terminated.
The Labor Inspection did not state how many labor contracts have been terminated since the new labor legislation took effect, that is from a total of above 6.3 million active contracts.
Despite the enigma created around the number of new labor contracts announced by officials, one thing is certain: the number of employees doubled in the May-June interval compared to the similar period of 2007.
Authorities said that, on the short term, the implementation of the new labor legislation will create 90,000 new jobs.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Ioana Tudor)