“Financial capital is no longer enough to generate value. We need innovation and human capital has become more important than the financial capital (…) However, the education system is not up to par, it is outdated and poorly implemented,” says Adrian Minea, general manager of transport and logistics company Bipmobile Timisoara.
“We’ve got people coming to get a middle management job in Romania and can’t pinpoint Greece on the map. Therefore, the quality of human capital is very important.”
The statement was made during the `Capitalul privat romanesc – o sansa pentru dezvoltarea economica a Romaniei’ (‘Romanian capital – a chance for Romania’s economic development’) conference organized by ZF and Banca Transilvania in Timisoara. This is the fourth stop of the ZF Antreprenorii Romaniei (ZF Romania’s Entrepreneurs) project, which will continue in the biggest cities of the country.
The Timis County, where more than 680,000 people live had 1.4% unemployment rate in October, compared with the national average of 4.9%. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in Caras Severin stood at 4.1%.
“We are no longer talking about the existence of skilled human resources now, we are talking about the existence of resources we undertake to train,” said Bogdan Cocian, general manager of ElbaTimisoara, one of the largest entrepreneurial businesses in the county, which posted 190 million lei (EUR42 million) revenue in 2014.
Timis is a county where one cannot find a job only if one does not want to and has become one of the most important industrial hubs of Romania in the past few years. Its proximity to the western border, which makes it easy to export products is one of the main reasons why automotive component industry giants like Continental, Delphi and TRW Automotive chose it.
Multinationals generate more than half of the revenue of all the companies in the county, while in Caras Severin foreign capital accounts for only 38% of that. Romanian entrepreneurs have developed their businesses around multinationals and the growth of business in the county is making it really hard off local and multinational companies to find labor.
“The allure of multinationals and people leaving [to work] abroad are an increasingly complicated problem when it comes to attracting human resources,” said Andrei Dudoiu, deputy chief executive of Banca Transilvania.
This is not happening in Timis only, the most important cities in Romania are experiencing it, too.
“We are unable to find engineers, we can no longer find skilled people in Resita. Every good engineer wants to leave Resita, despite the fact that the salaries we offer are much higher than the average in the city,” said Iancu Suteanu, an engineer with Electroechipament Industrial, which has a center in Resita (Caras Severin County seat i.e.).
Entrepreneurs propose relocation of people from areas with high unemployment to those areas offering a lot of jobs such as Timis and Cluj.
“We should support relocation of people to the areas where they can find jobs, not let them leave the country, but give them a better chance. There has never been a message like: if you don’t want to stay unemployed, go to Timisoara, Bucharest or other cities where you can find a job,” said Ovidiu Sandor, chief executive officer of ModaTim Investment in Timisoara.
Entrepreneurs’ opinions on the subject vary, though, and some say Timisoara lacks the necessary infrastructure to welcome more people. One of those entrepreneurs is Ioan Popa, general manager of Pangram Resita, who believes Timisoara is not ready to take in more people.
“I’ve been to Zurich, a city of 350,000 people, about as many as Timisoara, where one million people – three times more than the population, come and go every day. And 86% of them come by train or subway. Timisoara is not ready for that many people. I don’t think it’s wise to try to attract production facilities to the city, you won’t be able to live here anymore and you will have to outsource departments and leave the city,” said the Pangram founder.
Ioan Popa is planning to leave the management of the pasta producer to run for mayor in Resita, a city of about 70,000 people. (EUR1=RON4.4854)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)