After the fall of communism, Eastern Europe has experienced a large emigration: think of Polish construction workers or Romanian cleaners.
That migration continues, but at the same time Eastern European companies are beginning to suffer from a labor shortage. In Romania alone, up to a million people are missing from the labor market.
The solution has been enormous labor immigration – above all from Southeast Asia. People like Kavindu Umayanga, who comes from Sri Lanka and works as a chef at a sushi restaurant in Bucharest.
Income drives migration
It is a well-kept but rather small apartment. A bedroom, a small bathroom and a tiny kitchen. But it is enough for Kavindu and his wife Malsha. The important thing is to save money.
Both are from the capital Colombo. Kavindu, who has lived in Romania for five years, speaks good English. Malsha knows a few words. She works together with Kavindu in the restaurant as a dishwasher.
Kavindu presents the financial advantages of working in Romania. “In Sri Lanka, I can earn a maximum of 300 euros a month,” he says. “Here it will be over 1,000 euros a month.”
Even when you factor in the rent and trips back to Sri Lanka to visit family, it makes a big difference. A difference that allows him to support his parents financially.
“They’re getting old,” he says. “They can’t fend for themselves”
Romania’s economy is growing
Since 1990, around five million Romanians have left the country. Around a million are in Italy, hundreds of thousands in countries such as Germany and France. In Sweden, around 30,000. People move for various reasons, of course: desire for adventure, love, education. But for many it is simply about jobs and wages.
I meet Romulus Badea in an office in downtown Bucharest. He is an economist and runs a company that mediates contact between workplaces in Romania and employment agencies in Southeast Asia.
The Romanian economy is doing well, he says, GDP often grows by five percent per year. Even this year, when many other economies are at a standstill, the Romanian economy will grow by over two percent.
Wages are increasing, but wages in Western Europe are still two or three times higher. So, Romanians will continue to move abroad, he says, and people from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Bangladesh will continue to move to Romania.
A European trend
Five years ago, Romania issued 5,000 work visas. In 2023, it was 100,000. Next year, the plan is for 140,000 people from outside the EU to receive work permits. A similar process takes place in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
But according to Romulus Badea, it’s just the beginning. Romanian companies no longer need only low-paid cleaners and dishwashers, they are also starting to search Southeast Asia for programmers, managers and engineers.
Although the situation is more acute in Eastern Europe, due to the large emigration – the whole EU is having problems getting enough skilled labor. According to Eurostat, 75 percent of companies in the EU report that they have difficulty filling all vacant positions.
Sweden goes in the other direction
In Germany, the lack of labor is seen as one of the biggest challenges for the next decade, and it has begun signing agreements with countries in Africa to increase labor immigration.
Sweden is one of the few countries that goes in the other direction and tightens the requirements for labor immigration.
Back in the kitchen, Kavindu and Malsha are sitting and dreaming about traveling. Their work permits are only valid for Romania but they hope to have saved enough money soon to travel in Europe as tourists. Maybe to Paris. It’s a big dream.