Romania, from wages to youth unemployment
Eurostat and the National Institute of Statistics - INS announced the data on salaries and the unemployment rate in Romania.
Leyla Cheamil, 08.11.2024, 13:50
Data from the Statistical Office of the European Union – Eurostat show that the adjusted average annual full-time salary of Romanians is the fourth lowest in the European Union. According to Eurostat, the data show an annual salary increase of approximately 2,500 Euros for 2023. However, the total amount remains less than half of the EU average. Last year, the adjusted average annual salary for the community bloc was 37,900 Euros, while in Romania it was approximately 17,700 Euros, so less than half.
On the other hand, the data published by Eurostat also show that the unemployment rate in the euro zone stood at 6.3% in September, stable compared to the previous month, while in the case of the European Union the unemployment rate remained at 5.9%. In Romania as well the unemployment rate stood at 5.5% in September, stable compared to August. And the National Institute of Statistics in Romania announced that the unemployment rate was, in September, nationally, 5.5%, similar to that of August, which had increased slightly compared to the previous month. Most of the unemployed in Romania are adults between the ages of 25 and 74.
Financial analyst Adrian Codirlașu believes that the slight increase in unemployment after the middle of the year was caused by the accentuation of the slowdown in economic growth: “Somehow, the unemployment rate returned to the values it had in the previous year. If in the middle of the year we saw a decrease in the unemployment rate, later, starting in August, it returned to the level of 5.5%, so it increased a little, a slight increase. I would put it in the context where we see that the economy has slowed down, and this is seen in the creation of fewer jobs. It’s true, it grew extremely easily, so somehow it’s in the error margin, I would say, we still can’t say ‘yes, unemployment is generated’, but we still see a movement in the direction of a slight increase in the unemployment rate”.
Adrian Codirlașu added that the unemployment rate will depend, in the future, on how the economy will perform, but he estimates that it will remain high and even increase slightly, because he does not see a significant improvement in the economy compared to this year, but on the contrary. It is possible, in the context of increasing taxation, for even more redundancies to be generated in the economy, the financial analyst warned.
The National Institute of Statistics draws attention, as usual, to the level of unemployment among young people, those aged between 15 and 24, which exceeds 23%, but Adrian Codirlaşu considers it normal that the figure is much higher for this category. ‘Young people must learn, they must go to school to learn. They will be much better off, later, by accumulating that knowledge. Then there is the university, it would be ideal for as many young people as possible to go to university, because a job based on education brings the highest incomes”, the financial analyst says. (LS)
