The National Institute of Statistics (Institutul Naţional de Statistică, INS [1]) conducted the survey ‘Entry of young people to the labour market’ in the second quarter of 2009 as a complementary module to the Household Labour Force Survey (/Ancheta forţei de muncă în gospodării/, AMIGO). The survey aimed to collect information about young people’s transition from the educational phase to professional life, the types of transition phases, the features of the first significant job and the factors that influence young people’s access to the labour market.[1] http://www.insse.ro
A survey on the entry of young people to the labour market, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics as a complementary module of the Household Labour Force Survey in the second quarter of 2009, reveals that the rate of labour market entry for persons aged 15–34 years who left education was 24.4% in the first six months and 33.6% one year after leaving education. The figures reveal differences according to level of education, gender and area of residence.
About the survey
The National Institute of Statistics (Institutul Naţional de Statistică, INS) conducted the survey ‘Entry of young people to the labour market’ in the second quarter of 2009 as a complementary module to the Household Labour Force Survey (Ancheta forţei de muncă în gospodării, AMIGO). The survey aimed to collect information about young people’s transition from the educational phase to professional life, the types of transition phases, the features of the first significant job and the factors that influence young people’s access to the labour market.
The scope of the survey included all individuals aged 15 to 34 years who had left the education system either by graduating from a course of study (with or without a graduation certificate) or by voluntary dropout before graduation (with or without the intention to resume studies). Data were recorded through one-to-one interviews in 27,076 households. Based on coefficients assigned to respondents, the results were then extrapolated to the entire country. The non-response rate was 5.77%.
Main findings
Impact of level of education
In the second quarter of 2009, the population aged 15–34 years in Romania totalled 5,922,681 persons, 1.24% of whom had never attended any form of education. Out of 5,848,853 young persons aged 15–34 years who participated in some form of education, 65.9% had left education (98.7% of them by graduating and 1.3% by abandoning their studies, getting expelled from a course or some other reason) and 34.1% were still attending studies.
The survey shows important differences by area of residence, according to the level of education attended: 46.3% of young people in rural areas had a low level of education, compared with only 13% in the urban environment (Table 1). In the second quarter of 2009, only 3.4% of young people aged 15–34 years in rural areas left a third-level education establishment, compared with 27.7% of their peers in urban areas.
| Total | Men | Women | Urban | Rural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total who left education (persons): | 3,901,145 | 1,970,909 | 1,930,236 | 2,147,778 | 1,753,367 |
| - third-level (long and short-term university) (%) | 16.7 | 15.1 | 18.5 | 27.7 | 3.4 |
| - secondary and post secondary (%) | 55.3 | 58.0 | 52.5 | 59.3 | 50.3 |
| - low (primary and no education) (%) | 28.0 | 26.9 | 29.0 | 13.0 | 46.3 |
Source: INS, ‘Entry of young people to the labour market’, second quarter of 2009, Bucharest, 2009
The proportion of women who attended third-level education was higher than that of men (18.5% compared with 15.1%). A higher proportion of women than men also reported a lower level of education (29% compared with 26.9%).
Young people’s degree of insertion into labour market
The labour market insertion rate is defined as the ratio between the number of persons who have found salaried employment for at least three consecutive months and the total number of persons who left education in a particular segment. The labour market insertion rate of persons aged 15 to 34 years who left education was 24.4% in the six months after leaving education, and 33.6% in the 12 months after leaving education (Tables 2 and 3).
| Total | Men | Women | Urban | Rural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 24.4 | 24.8 | 24.0 | 29.5 | 18.2 |
| - third-level | 48.6 | 48.6 | 48.7 | 49.0 | 44.9 |
| - secondary and post secondary | 24.3 | 24.7 | 23.9 | 25.7 | 22.3 |
| - low | 10.1 | 11.8 | 8.5 | 5.2 | 11.8 |
Source: INS, 2009
In the second quarter of 2009, the lowest rate of entry into the labour market was registered by young people with a low education level from urban areas (5.2% in the first six months after leaving education, and 8.3% in the first 12 months). Individuals with third-level education feature the highest labour market entry rate (48.6% in the first six months after leaving education, and 60.9% in the first 12 months).
| Total | Men | Women | Urban | Rural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 33.6 | 34.6 | 32.6 | 39.6 | 26.3 |
| - third-level | 60.9 | 60.7 | 61.1 | 61.3 | 56.6 |
| - secondary and post secondary | 35.0 | 36.4 | 33.3 | 36.3 | 33.0 |
| - low | 14.6 | 16.2 | 13.1 | 8.3 | 16.8 |
Source: INS, 2009
The highest rate of labour market entry (61.3% of young people) one year after leaving education is registered for young people in urban areas who left third-level education. Young people who had completed third-level education registered the highest rate of entry to the labour market both in urban and rural areas.
Commentary
The survey results indicate that about 2,590,000 young people aged 15–34 years who left education (66.4% in all) failed to find salaried employment for at least three consecutive months more than one year after leaving education. Of these people, 9.8% held an academic degree, 54.1% of them had completed secondary and post-secondary education, and 36.1% had a low level of education.
The large number of young persons aged 15–34 years who failed to find significant employment proves the lack of employment opportunities in the Romanian labour market. On the other hand, it is necessary to establish a better match between the focus of educational courses and labour market developments.
Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2010), Young people and labour market entry, article.
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