“According to my estimates, I believe that the state loses some 2.5-3 percent of gross domestic product [GDP] annually, due to black and grey market labour,” said Dumitru Costin, President of the National Trade Union Block (BNS). Romania’s GDP is estimated to amount to €110 billion this year, and losses estimated by Costin could be worth some €3 bln.
“Black market labour skyrocketed this year compared to 2008. Many companies, wanting to cut costs in a year of crisis, are laying off employees with legal contracts and then hire people who accept to work without any contract,” said Costin. According to BNS’s President, one of the major problems of the system is the inefficiency of bodies that are responsible for controlling this phenomenon.
Cristian Erbasu, Head of the Societatea Comerciala de Constructii (SCC) Erbasu construction company, said that as long as taxes increase, black market labour will also soar. “Moreover, the state authorities should look more careful into the companies participating in tenders and who request an unjustifiably low price, whose operating background is almost non-existent,” Erbasu indicated.
Dan Ioan Popp, President of Impact Developer&Contractor, said that about 30-40 percent of the activity of construction companies is on the black market. The official said that the state should lower taxes and stop pressuring companies to cut prices.
