Search

The European Union proposed, through the Europe 2020 Strategy, a package of specific objectives with the main purpose of raising the level of economic competitiveness at community level, by smart economic growth, sustainable and inclusive labor market. Of course, all member states have established their own plans and policies, in line with the strategy, including Romania. What made these measures different from one country to another was the quantification of the launch base in the process, i.e. the level from which the self-imposed measures are initiated. The specific requirements of national economies, the standard of living, their health, work ability, work opportunities, prospects of life, differentiated the start for the 27 members. In the case of Romania, it is not quite a comfortable challenge, because the poverty of the people favored the numerical reduction of the local population as a whole, encouraging a shift towards economic areas with more development prospects. Romania is no exception, in an aging Europe, with an aging trend and apparently incapable of rejuvenations, to sustain itself in the future. No wonder the vast migration process had a rising trend, without any signs of territorial and demographic reconfiguration from the quantitative, qualitative and structural point of view. More dangerous is the tendency to eliminate workers' rights, acquired by effort and sacrifices over hundreds of years. It is not only the case of the local Labor Code, because such provisions are to be found also in other laws on labor from different EU countries. In such situations there is no surprise to notice the psychological discomfort of employees or of unemployed persons in search of jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Romanian economy began its transition to the market-oriented model in unpropitious conditions, more difficult than in other Central and Eastern European countries. The economy's evolution after 1990 took place according, generally, to the model „stop and go" and registered, so far, outcomes far from expectations. Objective and, especially, subjective explanations are multiple, on their identification focusing numerous surveys carried out after 1990 by international organizations, governmental bodies, international consultancy firms, domestic and foreign prestigious research institutes. The main conclusions of these surveys, even they are quite different, converge toward the essential idea that the actual condition of the Romanian economy and industry is, first of all, the result of a clear, coherent and judicious oriented strategy's absence, accompanied by adequate policies devoted to different sides of the economic and social development. In the context of absence for a long period of these strategies and policies set up on a consensual basis and consistently applied, the manner in which reform was managed proved to be deficient, oscillating and purposeless. Together with the deindustrialization also changed the configuration of the active population. Restructuring the economy left a negative mark on the standard of living, by reducing the family incomes of most of the country's inhabitants. If the study was to analyze the nation's health, the conclusions would have been really demoralizing. But the concern of this analysis was to present the economic reconfiguration in the past two decades, as well as the multivalent influences on the population, compared to the human and work conditions, the health of the population, the standard of living and the educational and cultural standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensively discussed and analyzed (many times controversial), globalization is accepted as an objective phenomenon, by its size and unrivalled evolution in the world history. Both globalization and regionalization have emerged and developed as a result of the unprecedented intensification of competition among economic agents, countries or regions. Many countries have been helped to develop at a much faster pace than they would have normally done under other circumstances. An advantage of the accelerated development of their economies was explained by reducing barriers to international trade (as a globalization effect). The international trade can significantly contribute to the growth of a nation, and on its turn, being influenced by the exports, represents the central component of a state's economic policy, one that contributes to improving living standards of millions of people and to the national development. (Drucker, P., 1997). However, this requires a shift of the human factor from one area of the world to another. The temporary or permanent migration, driven by the economic development, may still be an important element to strengthen the power of certain economies on the detriment of others? Absolutely. In fact, the economic future will be a regionalization of wealth in other areas than those well known. And this will lead or amplify, at every level, the social, politic, economic and even military confrontations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]