The impact of economic restructuring in mono-industrial areas: Strategies and alternatives for the labor reconversion of the formerly redundant in the
The impact of economic restructuring in mono-industrial areas: Strategies and alternatives for the labor reconversion of the formerly redundant in the

Summary/Abstract: The objective of this research is to identify the social consequences of the reorganization of the mining industry in the Jiu Valley and possible ways to resolve existing problems and to establish efficient social planning. In order to achieve these objectives, we focused on the employees of and ex-workers made redundant by the National Company of Pit Coal’s units in the Jiu Valley. As regards the methodology we used a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods consisting of two sociological surveys, interviews with the local elite, group interviews and document analysis. The research pointed out that the economic re-structuration of the Jiu Valley meant first and foremost the economic decline of the region. In the last ten years the population remained almost constant whilst the number of employed persons fell by over 40%. The economic failure of the restructuring process was doubled by the social one. The poverty produces a culture of subsistence, where the development has been replaced by the survival norms. In a negative economic context and faced with the passive attitude of beneficiaries, the programs for labor conversion have failed too. Besides the descriptive dimension as concerns the different features of the mininig restructuring process and the main actors involved, the study reviews a few possible alternatives for regional development and also some pro-development policy measures appropiate to be taken in order to mitigate the negative consequences of the restructuration.

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