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1. Governance

2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Main actors involved in youth employment and entrepreneurship

The main top-level governmental authority responsible for youth employment and entrepreneurship are:

1. the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity;
2. the National Employment Agency (NEA);
3. The Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism.
4. The Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities

Trade unions, employers’ organisations and NGOs participate in policy making in the field of youth employment and entrepreneurship, as consultative structures for the government. Three main methods are used for the stakeholders participation to public policies in the field of youth employment and entrepreneurship:

1. the National Council for Youth (NCFY) created in 2020 as an advisory body for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, composed by 50 representatives of youth civil society organisations. The Council continued its activity when in 2022 the youth policy became the responsibility of the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities
2. ad-hoc consultative meetings and consultations.
3. the Economic and Social Council, a consultative body of the Parliament and the Government, organised as an autonomous tripartite public institution of national interest, having the function of an advisory board for all bills in the social or economical field.

There are three types of organisations participating in both the ad-hoc consultative meetings and the Economic and Social Council:

1. nationally representative trade unions, according to the Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue;
2. nationally representative employers’ associations, according to the Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue;
3. NGOs appointed by the Minister of Labour, according to representation criteria. However, the criteria are not public but NGOs organised in the previous years to vote representatives proposed for nominations to the Minister of Labour. An umbrella youth organisation: the Romanian Youth Council is part of the Economic and Social Council.

General distribution of responsibilities

Concerning the general distribution of responsibilities, the main governance approach to youth employment and entrepreneurship is top-down

1. the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity is responsible for policy design, monitoring and evaluation on youth employment;
2. the National Employment Agency (NEA) is responsible for the implementation of the employment policies. The NEA functions under the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity and has county offices and local offices responsible for the direct provision of services to unemployed persons, including youth;
3. The Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism is responsible for policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation on youth entrepreneurship. Local offices for SMEs are implementing the youth entrepreneurship programmes of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism in direct cooperation with the young entrepreneurs.
4. Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities is coordinating the youth policy and supporting young entrepreneurs, especially students entrepreneurs through its credit guarantee programme: Student Invest.

There are no large-scale initiatives of local authorities in the field of youth employment and entrepreneurship.

Cross-sectorial cooperation

There are three mechanisms of cross-sectorial cooperation between ministries, departments, agencies involved in defining top-level policies and measures on youth employment and entrepreneurship:

1. Ad-hoc meetings and consultations
2. Ad-hoc inter-ministerial committees organised on different topics according to the bill in preparation. For example, in 2016 the Ministry of Labour created an inter-ministerial committee for jobs creation, with responsibilities on jobs for young people.
3. Until December 2023: the Monitoring Committee of the Operational Programme Human Capacity (OPHU), the programme including employment, education, training, social support and social entrepreneurship support from the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative. The Monitoring Committee of OPHU was an important cooperation mechanism, as OPHU funded many strategic initiatives and projects in the field of youth employment.