When dealing with the issue of increased labour productivity in steel companies, as well as in any other economic sector, managers are faced with a difficult choice – investing in technologies and competencies or diminishing the number of jobs. The economic literature and statistical data available on the Romanian steel industry has revealed that the second option has often been the case in the past 10 years or so. Nevertheless, in order to reach the economic indicators of Westerns countries, the main Romanian steel plants should decrease the number of employees from 18 500 to 8 400. We argue that the accelerated production after the crisis would also entail increased productivity, but the lack of technological advancement and significant investments in competencies will not allow economic efficiency to exceed the average of EU developed member states.