3.1 General context
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Labour market situation in the country
The youth unemployment rate in Romania in December 2023 was 22.2%, for the 15-24 years old age segment, according to the Romanian National Institute for Statistics, compared to 19% in December 2020. A decrease of the youth unemployment percentage was constant between 2015 (23.5%) and 2019, but the trend has been stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic. This should be put in the context of a general unemployment value of 5.8% in Romania for December 2023. Young people are the age group the most affected by unemployment.
The information and data available are relevant only for the age segment 15-24.
Main concepts
According to the law on employment and unemployment, law no. 76/2002, ‘Unemployed’ is the person who cumulatively fulfils the following conditions:
- is 16 or older, is looking for a job and does not meet the retirement conditions;
- the state of health and the physical and mental capacities allow the person to perform a job;
- the person does not work, does not earn any income from authorised activities according to the law, or has lower income than the country-wide minimum gross salary guaranteed;
- the person is available to start work in the immediate period if there is a vacancy.
According to the same law, the ‘registered unemployed person’ is the person who cumulatively fulfils the conditions set out previously and is registered with the employment agency in whose territorial range resides.