Should one look at the article dated „StatusReport: Launch Forecast“, one will see that the ECo-C is expected to belaunched in Romania sometime in 2011. It is therefore exactly the right time towonder what sort of benefits Romania in general, and its denizens and citizensin particular, would be able to draw from this new educational offering.

According to multiple sources, the mainproblems of the Romanian labour market are:

1)      The emigration of young professionals. Thecountry actually has a negative population growth rate, something that isattributed to both the aging of the population and the exodus of the people ofan age to work.

2)     Redtape and bureaucracy, as well as corruption, which continue to pose manyproblems.

3)     Anabove-average share of people employed in agriculture: although that sectorprovides no more than 12.4% of Romanian GDP, it accounts for 29.7% of theworkers.

4)     Asmaller-than-average share for services: although providing about 52.6% ofRomanian GDP in 2009, the service sector employs only 47.1% of the population.Even so, the sector needs to expand in both numbers and value, as servicesaccount for 71.9% of the European Union’s GDP.

5)     Thefinancial crisis, which started in 2008, has caused unemployment to double(from 4.4% to 7.8% in a year) and the real growth rate to collapse to -7.2% in2009, from +7.1% in 2008.

The above all shows that, the Romanian marketis currently facing some pretty large upheavals. Not only will structural adjustmentsneed to be made to favour the service sector and continue the restructuring ofolder or less efficient areas, thus ensuring a return to positive growth, butthe deeper issues of high labour turnover, high emigration, but also, risingimmigration from non-EU member states in the region will need to be taken intoaccount. And this does not even begin to take into account complexities relatedto Romania’s minorities or Diasporas.

On the whole, however, the ECo-C should help.As a certificate, it is already well established in Germany and Austria and isabout to be launched in Hungary, which are among Romania’s main partners. Inturn, this means that certified people immigrating to these countries, orreturning from these countries, would find some local recognition for theirskills, enabling an easier integration into their chosen market, and common,recognisable standards and communication philosophies. It furthermore goeswithout saying that, as a communications certificate, the ECo-C is more likelyto be useful in the expanding services sector, than in any agriculturalconcern.