The European Commission on Thursday approved Spain's request to restrict its labor market to Romanian workers until December 31, 2012 due to serious disturbances on its labor market, the EC said in a press release. read more...

Spain will not be allowed to decide unilaterally when to lift restrictions for Romanians main workers on its labor market and the European Commission may ask for the restrictions imposed on July 22 to be lifted anytime, official sources told Mediafax Wednesday. read more...

Romania may raise public sector wages 15 next year, either at once or in tranches, Marian Sarbu, head of coalition party UNPR, told Radio France International Tuesday. read more...

Romania’s Government on Wednesday decided the start of procedures to lay off 1,300 employees of several state-owned energy companies this year, and laid off workers will get severance pay and unemployment aid until 2014. read more...

Romanian Labor Minister Sebastian Lazaroiu said Wednesday he discussed with the International Monetary Fund mission the public sector wage law to be enforced next year, the implementation of a new pension system and the country’s future social assistance code. read more...

Some 44.47% of Romanian high school students passed the 2011 Baccalaureate last week - the lowest graduation rate in the history of the country. According to data provided by education authorities on Sunday, the extremes were reported in the counties of Caras Severin (24.82% graduation rate) and Suceava (65.03% graduation rate, as compared to 87.39% in 2010). read more...

Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, as well as immigrants from outside the European Union, will be granted work permits in the Netherlands only in “exceptional cases”, according to a new measure adopted by the Dutch Parliament, Novinite.com reported Friday. read more...

Authorities in Bucharest will demand that European Commission to conduct an updated study on the impact of labour market liberalization over EU member state economies in an attempt to push for a lift of restrictions for Romanian workers, a document of the executive reads quoted by news agency Mediafax. read more...

Unemployment rate, according to the International Labour Office was 7.6% in the first quarter of the year compared to the 7.3% registered in the previous quarter but it registered a decrease compared to the 2010 first quarter when unemployment was 8.1%, the National Statistics Institute reads. The highest unemployment rate, of 23.6% was registered among young people ages 15 to 24. read more...

Court decisions allowing professors a salary increase, despite the government’s decision to cut salaries are increasing more and more. About 2,000 professors in 50 schools in Iasi, North Romania won a 34% increase in salaries. The decision was given on Friday, June 10 at Iasi and it is definitive and aplicable for 2010 as well. read more...

Unemployment rate, calculated by the International Labour Office was of 7.3% at the end of 2010, an increase to the previous quarter and to the previous in 2009 according to the National Statistics Institute. The highest unemployment rate, of 22.1% was registered among youngsters between 15 to 24 years old. read more...

157,306 new labor contracts were registered in the last 10 days since the new Labour Code was enforced, PM Emil Boc said. He said that 70% of the newly registered labor contracts were signed for an undetermined period of time. read more...

102,870 new labor contracts were signed in a week since the new Labour Code was enforced following controls to counter illegal workers, PM Emil Boc announced on Monday in a press conference organized at the Labor Ministry. read more...

Ten EU member states want to wait until 2014 before completely opening up gates for the Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, Austrian Labour minister Rudolf Hundstorfer said, quoted by AFP. The adhesion treaty of Romania and Bulgaria, who joined the EU in 2007, reads that EU member states need to give up freedom of movement restrictions for workers as of January 2012. read more...

Romania’s new Labor Code, pushed through the Parliament through a vote of confidence early March, takes effect Sunday and employers risk prison sentences for using illegal labor. read more...

30,000 state company employees will be laid off, the president of the National Union Block Dumitru Costin declared after a meeting with IMF representatives, Romanian news agency Mediafax reports. He says that he received promises from the delegation that the restructuring will be the main subject on the working agenda with the government. read more...

ArcelorMittal Galaţi, Romania's biggest steel plant controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, announced 1,050 employees would leave the company by yearend in the wake of some voluntary departure schemes. read more...

Germany's Lidl retailer, which entered the Romanian market by acquiring Plus discount store network, has over the past two weeks posted tens of offers for positions with the company on recruitment websites, but has not communicated any data on the number of stores set to be opened or on their location. read more...

At least 2.1 million Romanians work in EU member states, most of them in Italy, Spain and Germany; this is the first official figure released by European Commission representatives. read more...

Nokia announced on Wednesday that it will decrease the total number of employees by 4000 people by the end of 2012 and it will mostly lay off personnel from Denmark, Finland and Great Britain. The measure is part of the producer’s plans to cut operational costs by 1 billion euro for 2013. In Romania, Nokia will lay off about 120 employees. read more...