According to data provided by the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), based on a request from Business Standard, the top ten best-paid Romanian unemployed receive benefits ranging from RON 7,078 (some €1,700) and RON 3,262 (some €771,19), and come from areas of the country that register some of the lowest unemployment rates.

Whether we are speaking about people who worked abroad and are now receiving benefits corresponding to the contributions paid abroad, or they held top management positions in private companies in Romania, these unemployed paid contributions over their 20 working years similar to the income they now have.

After Business Standard revealed last week that the highest unemployment benefit in Romania amounts to some €1,700, the ANOFM data indicates that another four unemployed receive benefits in excess of €1,000, three of these people from Bucharest, who worked abroad.

The former manager of Romtelecom Timiş, whose unemployment benefit exceeds RON 7,000, is followed by a former manager of a hotel chain, whose benefit is over RON 5,300. The hotel chain manager also worked for a communications company, where he had a monthly salary worth some RON 40,000. The third-largest unemployment benefit amounts to RON 5,120.

According to Tiberiu Gorodea, Coordinating Manager of the Bucharest Municipal Employment Agency (AMOFM), people who worked abroad receive a substantial unemployment benefit for six months, resulting from contributions paid in the countries in which they worked, which can be transferred to Romania, at the request of the beneficiary.