Is no employment better than self-employment? The story of how Romania managed to create a class of ‘invisible’ and forgotten workers

Luana Miruna Pop

doi:10.5771/1435-2869-2023-1-7

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- 1–4 Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis 1–4
- 5–6 Editorial 5–6
- 7–46 Is no employment better than self-employment? The story of how Romania managed to create a class of ‘invisible’ and forgotten workers Luana Miruna Pop Luana Miruna Pop 7–46
- 47–64 Romania’s societal transformation and labour struggles abroad – how missing income opportunities and the fear of dismissal inform practices of labour resistance Christian Sperneac-Wolfer Christian Sperneac-Wolfer 47–64
- 65–80 Digital transformation social spaces of Romanians and Moldovans in Berlin Mihaela-Violeta Vochin Mihaela-Violeta Vochin 65–80
- 81–94 Modern inequalities: a review of the literature Lyuboslav Kostov Lyuboslav Kostov 81–94
- 95–110 The effect of social security spending on economic growth in selected EU candidate countries Emin Ahmet Kaplan, Zeynep Hoş, Ilkay Güler Emin Ahmet Kaplan, Zeynep Hoş, Ilkay Güler 95–110
- 111–124 Sustainable regional development in Albania Anisa Balla, Flora Merko, Ela Golemi, Marta Biancardi Anisa Balla, Flora Merko, Ela Golemi, Marta Biancardi 111–124
- 125–126 About the Authors 125–126
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SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe , page 7 - 46

Is no employment better than self-employment? The story of how Romania managed to create a class of ‘invisible’ and forgotten workers

Autoren

Luana Miruna Pop

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/1435-2869-2023-1-7
- ISSN: 1435-2869
- ISSN online: 2942-3384
Abstract

Romania has been, for the past decade, not only the country with the highest in-work poverty among EU member states, but – unlike most of the others – also a country with a steadily growing welfare polarisation of the workforce. This article aims to explain why Romania still finds itself in this situation. The article documents the increasing differences in exposure to poverty and social exclusion between employees and the self-employed and points to the mix of factors responsible. Unlike most European countries, where a certain gap between employees and non-employees is the result of the flexibilisation of the labour market, in Romania this appears rather to be the result of a unique inherited structure of employment alongside an inadequate package of social and fiscal measures which has kept and further pushed the self-employed into informality. Thus, Romania is still searching for a policy solution that would allow the existing self-employed to become ‘visible’ in the formal economy and for a diversification of forms of employment. Finally, the article explores the possibilities for a reversal of the current trend.
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