Employment slightly up, to 61.6 pct in 2016

Employment in Romania went slightly up in 2016, to 61.6 percent, but still ranks behind most EU member states. Only 41 percent of Romanians who didn’t graduate from high school are employed, while the young and the elderly are working less.

Employment among Romanians increased, while unemployment dropped slightly to 5.9 percent, from 6.8 percent in 2015, according to data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), which indicates a low presence of young people, seniors and the those with basic education on the labour market.

In 2015, the degree of occupation of the population aged 15-64, considered population of working age, stood at 61.4 percent, up by 61 percent in 2014, and unemployment at a national level stood at 6.8 percent, calculated after the standards of the International Labour Organization.

However, Romania is still below the national target, of 70 percent, set for 2020, however the objective in this case targets the population aged between 20 to 65, where the occupation degree is higher, of 66.3 percent.

Last year the degree of occupation was higher among men, of 69.7 percent, while almost half of Romanian women are not employed, with an employment rate of just 53.3 percent. The urban population is much more active than rural inhabitants, with an employment degree of 62.2 percent, compared to 60.2 percent in the rural areas.

There are large gaps in employment between age groups. The highest percentage, 77.6 percent, was recorded in 2016 among the 25-54 age group, while only 42.8 percent of Romanians aged 55 and 64 were active on the labour market. Among young people aged 15-24, only 22.3 percent were recorded as employed last year, compared to 42.5 percent in 2015. The highest degree of occupation, of 8.2 percent, was recorded in 2016 among people aged at least 65, down by 8.9 percent in 2015, according to INS. The degree of occupation varies a lot according to the level of education of those in question.

“The highest level of employment for the working age population was recorded among the highly educated (86.2 percent). A total of 65.2 percent of people with an average education level were employed and only 41.0 percent of those with a basic education level,” the INS shows.

Compared to 2015, employment rate increased among people aged 25-54 and 55-64 and dropped for all other age groups. Romania continues to have an excess of employed people in the agricultural sector, the data shows. Out of the total of those employed, 23.1 percent were working in the agricultural sector, 29.9 percent in industry or constructions and 47.0 percent in services” the INS statement reads. According to 2016 economic data, agriculture had a contribution of only 3.9 percent to the GDP.

According to Eurostat, in 2015 Romania was ranked 24 out of 28 member states in terms of employment of those aged 20-64.