Romania has among the lowest labour force participation rates in the EU

Romania is among the countries with the lowest rate of labour force participation in the European Union (66%) aged from 15 to 64, by comparison to the European average of 74% in 2023, show the data covered in the Social Monitor, a project of the Feriedrich Ebert Foundation Romania. According to a press release issued by the organisation on Monday, within this already low rate of active population, Romania has a higher proportion of unemployed people than most member states, ''This situation is based on several factors, including the high rate of emigration among the working-age population, especially after Romania's entry into the EU, the inactive population for medical reasons, disability or invalidity, the decline in the birth rate in the decades after 1989 and the phenomenon of population ageing,'' the source cited. The European office for Statistics (Eurostat) shows that out of the 12.2 million Romanian residents aged between 15 and 64, approximately 8.05 million are considered active population on the work market, the equivalent of two thirds (66%) of the population, significantly under the EU27 average of 74%. By comparison, in Sweden the active population reaches 84% and in Poland and Bulgaria it is over 70%.''According to the Eurostat definition, the active population is composed of two categories: the employed population, which carries out activities generating goods or services, and the unemployed population, which is looking for a job. Of the 8.06 million Romanians in the labour force in 2023, only 6.5 million people were employed in formal jobs, the rest being people in unpaid activities or self-employed. Thus, the employment rate of people aged between 15 and 64 out of Romania's entire population was 54%, significantly below the European average of 60%. At the top of the ranking are Sweden and Germany, with more than 70% of the population in this category in official jobs, while Bulgaria, Poland and Spain are at around 60%'', Monitorul Social reports. Similarly, the difference between the population employed in an official workplace and the total of the active population is given by the employed population but not in labour force, as the Eurostat definition says.Thus, this population includes unpaid domestic workers (over 200,000 people in Romania), almost a fifth of all unpaid domestic workers considered as employed in the EU.The specialty report shows, at the same time, that the employed population covers also the self-employed workers, about 840,000 people in Romania.According to Eurostat, the active population includes all people from the category of age which provides labour available for the production of goods and services in the country, whether paid or unpaid.The inactive population, generally includes people in unpaid education or training, early retirees, individuals with illnesses or disabilities, and unpaid carers of relatives or people with special needs.