20.04.2022

ROMANIA'S ABLE-BODIED EMPLOYMENT RATE LAST YEAR WAS 62.1 PER CENT

In Romania, the employment rate of the working population (15-64 years) last year was 62.1 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year, according to data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on Wednesday.

In 2021, the employment rate of the population aged 20-64 was 67.1 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous year.

Last year, Romania's active population was 8.214 million, of which 7.755 million were employed and 459,000 were unemployed.

The employment rate of the working age population (15-64) was 61.9 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year. As in previous years, the employment rate was higher for men (71.1 percent compared to 52.5 percent for women). Depending on the place of residence, the employment rate is higher in urban areas (67.2 percent compared to 55.5 percent in rural areas). The employment rate for young people (15-24 years) is 21.2 percent, and for the elderly (55-64 years) - 43.8 percent.

According to the NSI, the highest employment among the elderly is registered among higher education graduates (80.1 percent). 54.1 percent of people with secondary education and 20.9 percent of people with lower levels of education were employed.

The largest share (84.9 percent) among the working population is occupied by employees, which is increasing compared to the previous year (+89,000 people). In 2021, the self-employed and unpaid family workers accounted for 13.7% of the employed.

The distribution of the employed population by type of property shows that the private sector has absorbed 81.7 percent of the population. The public sector accounted for 17.4 percent of the employed population, while the mixed sector accounted for 0.9 percent of the employed.

Skilled workers represent 18.3 percent of the total employed population. A significant share is represented by specialists in various fields (17.5 percent) and those working in the service sector (17.4 percent).

Of the total number of employees, 11.8 percent worked in the agricultural sector, 32.9 percent in industry or construction, and 55.3 percent in the service sector. Non-agricultural activities employ 6.844 million people, with a significant share of those working in manufacturing (22.3 percent), trade (20 percent) and construction (11.2 percent). Of the total number of employees in 2021, 301,000 (3.9 percent) worked part-time.

In 2021, the average length of the working week for the main activity is 39.8 hours per week; 52,000 people performed additional activities, working an average of 13.4 hours per week.