ABSTRACT
The economic conditions and the potential for development in the villages of Romania have until today been characterised, as in other east European countries, by changes in rural areas prior to the 1989 revolution. The industrialization imposed by Ceausescu progressively destroyed the system of individual farms specialising in different production sectors. In the rural areas almost all households run their own subsistence farming and the percentage of day labourers is high. Other informal activities occur almost only in combination with day labour and/or subsistence farming. The situation of day labourers working for cooperatives and associations is more regular, as is the situation of shepherds. Their wages are calculated on the basis of the days worked, but they work on informal contracts on monthly payment with the cooperatives, respectively with the cattle owners in one or several villages.
