Romania’s hot economy is attracting foreign workers

A generation agoGDPEU Romanians queued for food. Today in Bucharest the queues are back, but those standing in them are not Romanian. In one street Ukrainian refugees line up in front of an aid-distribution centre. In another Nepalis, Bangladeshis and others wait outside an immigration office to renew work and residence permits. Like Italy in the 1970s, Romania is on the cusp of switching from a country of emigrants to one of immigrants.Romania’s has been growing steadily for a decade, last year by 4.7%. In 2010 per person, adjusted for prices, was 53% of the average; by 2021 it was 74%. Meanwhile the population shrank from 23.2m in 1990 to 19m today. Birth rates collapsed after the revolution of 1989, and millions have emigrated. The country now faces severe labour shortages.