Young romanians apply massively for jobs, but unemployment among them is the highest in the EU

Over 1.2 million applications from candidates between the ages of 18 and 24 were registered in the first months of this year on the eJobs.ro platform, an increase of almost 30% compared to the same period last year.

However, the enthusiasm of young people for the labor market comes against the backdrop of a worrying statistic: Romania has become the country in the European Union with the highest unemployment rate among young people under 25 – 28.2%, almost double the European average.

“We are seeing a significant increase in the interest of very young candidates for the jobs available on the market, in a context in which their integration into the labor market has become even more complicated in the last two years, since companies began to automate many of the repetitive and execution tasks specific to entry-level jobs,” explains Bogdan Badea, CEO of eJobs.

Stability bonus for young people between 16 and 30 who are not working or studying

Without experience and with the need to enter the labor market as quickly as possible, young people are oriented towards the fields that offer the largest number of entry-level jobs: retail, services, tourism, call-center / BPO, finance-banking and the food industry.

IT and advertising / marketing / PR also remain on the list of preferences, especially among university graduates.

And college graduates are, by the way, the majority among applicants — even if many also end up applying for jobs that do not require a university degree.

“These are concessions they make in order to enter the job market more quickly and to gain the experience they need to be able to get hired more easily later in the field or position they want,” says Badea.

The largest volume of applications comes from the major university centers: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Iași and Timișoara.

In smaller cities — Brăila, Baia Mare, Suceava, Galați or Târgu Mureș — the activity is significantly lower, and not just because there are fewer young people: “one of the reasons is that young people in these areas are looking to relocate and are directing their applications to larger cities in the vicinity,” states the CEO of eJobs.

The average net salary for an entry-level job is 4,000 lei per month nationally, according to the salary comparator Salario.

The differences between the fields are notable, however: retail, tourism and HoReCa offer an average of 3,500 lei, call center / BPO — 3,800 lei, transport / logistics and marketing — 4,000 lei, and IT goes up to 5,000 lei per month.

A surprising detail: young people’s interest in remote jobs is low — only 10% of applications in the 18-24 age group target positions without physical presence in the office.

The percentage is identical to that registered in the other age categories, which suggests that remote work has lost its general attractiveness compared to the post-pandemic period.

Currently, 20,000 jobs are available on eJobs.ro, and another 4,500 on iajob.ro — the platform dedicated to quick employment, without a CV.