Welfare through migrant work: what if the Romanian ‘safety valve’ closes?

The Romanian work migration system came as an answer to the increased individual welfare risks caused by a particular form of Romanian neoliberalism. The system acts as a transnational labour market built up from the grassroots. Through its maturing, this migration system has acted as a ‘safety valve’ in Romania: neoliberal principles could be built into the Romanian welfare system. As such, migrant work abroad became a structural aspect of the Romanian welfare system. The austerity measures that are currently imposed on Mediterranean economies hosting Romanian migrants, and on Romania itself, therefore, create a double pressure on welfare in the latter, since they undermine the ‘safety valve’ capacity of the migration system.