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Romania State Welfare Assistance
The pension scheme in socialist Romania provided for
state
employees only. Cooperatives, professional associations,
and the
clergy had to provide their own pensions. State employees
were
usually required to retire at age sixty-two for men and
fifty-seven
for women. Retirement could be postponed for up to three
years, or
individuals could request early retirement at sixty years
of age
for men and fifty-two for women if conditions for length
of service
were met (twenty-five years for women and thirty years for
men).
The employer adjudicated requests for early or postponed
retirement. Pensions were based on the employee's salary
level and
length of service. Retirees without the required length of
service
had their pensions reduced accordingly. Pension amounts
were not
permanently fixed, but could be adjusted up or down
according to
the needs of the state, and presumably, the needs of the
elderly.
In addition to retirement pensions, the state provided
pensions
to invalids and survivors' benefits to the immediate
families of
deceased persons entitled to retirement pensions. Monetary
assistance was also provided under a state insurance plan
in cases
of sickness or injury. Again, this help was available only
to state
employees. The state also provided special programs for
social
assistance to orphans, people with mental or physical
handicaps,
and the elderly.
* * *
Many scholars have written on the structure and
dynamics of
Romanian society. Especially interesting and informative
overviews
can be found in Lawrence S. Graham's Romania: A
Developing
Socialist State and Ian Matley's Romania: A
Profile.
Michael Shafir's Romania: Politics, Economy, and
Society is
remarkable for depth and detail. The Political Economy
of
Romanian Socialism by William E. Crowther is an
excellent
description of both politics and society. A thorough
examination of
industrialization and urbanization and their impact on
society is
presented in Per Ronnas's Urbanization in Romanian, a
Geography
of Social and Economic Change. A useful examination of
systematization made all the more interesting and
informative for
its anthropological perspective is Steven L. Sampson's
National
Integration Through Socialist Planning. Trond
Gilberg's
Modernization in Romania since World War II
describes
socioeconomic modernization, education, political
socialization,
housing, social services, and medical care.
Transylvania, the
Roots of Ethnic Conflict, edited by John F. Cadzow,
Andrew
Ludanyi, and Louis J. Elteto, and an article by George
Schöpflin,
"The Hungarians of Romania," provide thorough treatments
of ethnic
minority issues. Several articles by William Moskoff are
invaluable
for their information on women's issues and demographic
policy. The
following books provide excellent comparisons of Romanian
and other
East European societies: Politics and Society in
Eastern
Europe, by Joni Lovenduski and Jean Woodall;
Socialism,
Politics and Equality, by Walter D. Connor;
Socialism's
Dilemmas: State and Society in the Soviet Bloc, also
by Connor;
and Politics in Eastern Europe, by Ivan Volgyes.
(For
further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1989
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