Entre dos crisis económicas. Estrategias de los rumanos en el mercado de trabajo español 1

The global financial and economic crisis has hit the Spanish labour market particularly hard and has ended the working lives of a large number of immigrants who have suddenly been pushed back into the insecurity that characterized their first years in Spain. The aim of this paper is to analyse the patterns of entry of Romanians into the Spanish labour market, their careers and the strategies that they are adopting in the present circumstances. Some have left, but most are weathering the crisis here. The alternative to staying or leaving is partial return. The results of this study are based on fifty interviews with Romanians, which took place in Spain in the first quarter of 2011 and in a town in Romania in April of that year. Qualitative information is complemented by relevant economic data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.