EU Benefits from Bulgarian, Romanian Workers' Mobility

The mobile workers from Romania and Bulgaria have played an overall positive role in the receiving EU countries economies, a report published by the European Commission reveals.

Bulgaria and Romania's mobile workers have contributed to the skills mix as well as filling vacancies in sectors and jobs with labour shortages such as in construction and the domestic and food services sectors.

Estimates also show a positive impact of the free movement of Romanian and Bulgarian workers on the EU's long-term GDP with an increase by about 0.3% for EU-27 (0.4% for eu-15).

Studies show too that there has been no significant impact on unemployment or wages of local workers in receiving countries: in the EU-15 studies show wages are on average only 0.28% lower they would have been without mobility of the two EU newcomers.

The report also highlights that there is no evidence of a disproportionate use of benefits by intra-EU mobile EU citizens and that the impact of recent flows on national public finances is negligible or positive.

"Moving between countries offers real opportunities and economic benefits for both the host countries and the EU as a whole. We see that geographical mobility very much depends on the trends of the economy and where the jobs are," EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor stated at a conference in Vienna, as cited in a European Commission press release.