INS data describe Romania with 1,000,000 hands free: the aging economy that fails to employ its young
At the beginning of 2026, more than half a million Romanians were looking for a job and couldn't find it, according to information made public by the INS on Monday. Young people are the hardest hit.
- We have 7,660,000 people with jobs.
- When we look at the composition, we discover huge discrepancies.
- For example, among young women, 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate has exceeded 30%.
The National Institute of Statistics published on Monday, June 15, the employment data in the first quarter of the year. The figures confirm an image that many Romanians live daily: the labor market is stagnating, unemployment is increasing slightly, and the inequalities between cities and villages, between young people and adults, remain huge.
How many Romanians work, how many are looking for work
Of the approximately 12.2 million Romanian residents between the ages of 15 and 64, only 8.2 million are part of what economists call the “active population” – that is, they either have a job or are actively looking for one. Of these, 7.66 million are employed, and 536,000 are unemployed in the strict sense of the term.
The employment rate – that is, the share of those working among the population of working age (15–64 years) – was 62.6% in the first quarter.
The urgency of using labor while we still have it
62.6% is the same figure as in the previous quarter, which means that things have not moved at all.
Romania remains one of the countries with the lowest degree of participation in the labor market in the European Union.
The Romanian population of working age is shrinking rapidly. This contraction is mainly due to low fertility rates in the past and strong emigration.
The decrease in the working-age population makes it more urgent for Romania to capitalize on the employment potential of its existing population.
Between 2024 and 2040, the number of people aged between 15 and 64 is expected to decrease by 15% in Romania, according to an OECD report.
| Factor | How it affects the occupancy rate |
|---|---|
| Strong emigration of the working age population | It directly reduces the number of people who CAN work; the aging of the Romanian labor force is also accelerating |
| Inactivity for medical reasons/disability | A significant proportion of 15–64 year olds are not in the labor force due to disability or chronic illness |
| Declining birth rate post-1989 + aging population | The demographic structure is moving towards older ages; fewer young people enter the labor market. |
| Low education | The employment rate is 35% for those with low education, vs. 90% for those with higher education |
| Gender gap | The gender gap in employment is 18.7 points – the second largest in the EU; women are much less busy |
| Large informal economy | Many work “on the black”, the official indicators do not take them into account |
| Urban-rural disparities | In rural areas there is more inactivity, fewer jobs and more youth migration |
Unemployment has increased slightly, but the truth is behind it
The unemployment rate rose to 6.5% in the first quarter of 2026, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. It doesn't seem like much, but behind this number lie very different realities depending on your age, gender and where you live.
In cities vs. to the villages. If you live in a city, unemployment is 3.5% – a relatively low figure, comparable to what is seen in functioning economies.
But if you live in the countryside, the unemployment rate jumps to 10.3%. That means one out of ten people from the countryside who want to work cannot find work. The difference of 6.8 percentage points between urban and rural areas is a thermometer of a growing development gap.
Men vs. women. Overall, the unemployment rate is the same – 6.5% for both men and women. But the employment rate differs dramatically: 71% for men versus 53.9% for women.
In other words, women are dropping out of the labor market in much greater numbers—perhaps for reasons related to childcare or elder care, or simply because the jobs in their area aren't worth the commute or the cost of daycare.
Young people – the most vulnerable category
The data on young people are the most worrying in the entire INS release.
The unemployment rate among 15–24 year olds reached 27.4% in the first quarter.
This means that more than one in four young people who want to work do not have a job. For women, the situation is even more difficult: 30.8% compared to 25.4% for boys.
Even more relevant: the youth employment rate is only 16.5% – a slight decrease compared to 17.2% in the same quarter last year.
NEET continues to concern
This does not necessarily mean that more young people are unemployed; an important part are at school or college.
But it also reflects another phenomenon: many young people in Romania do not study, work or look for work – they are what economists call NEET (Neither in Education, Employment nor Training). This category is a red flag for any economy.
What the numbers say about the economy
This data does not come in isolation. They overlap a difficult macroeconomic picture: Romania entered a technical recession at the beginning of the year. On the screen:
- Consumption decreases
- Real wages are eroded by inflation
- Public investment has slowed amid pressures to reduce the budget deficit
The stagnant employment rate – no movement from the previous quarter – suggests that employers are not recruiting enthusiastically. The slight increase in unemployment confirms the same: more people fall into the category of those who are actively looking for work and cannot find it.
The fiscal context also matters. The reductions in public spending in recent months have particularly affected the administration and the budget sector, which in Romania employs a significant part of the workforce. Any adjustment on this side is directly felt in the labor market.
