Romania has one of the highest percentages of young unemployed people who would not leave their hometown to find a job (either in the country or abroad), according to a Eurostat survey on the mobility of this social category.
Approximately 63% of all unemployed between 20- 34 were against the relocation compared to the EU average of nearly 50% – this means that Romania held the 4th position of 28, in 2016.
However, young unemployed in Romania and Germany seem the most open to relocating to another locality in their country if they find a job there – 37% of all participants interviewed, compared to only 21%, the European average.
Despite their availability and the labour market gap in Romania, only 2% of the 20-34-year-olds stated in the survey conducted in 2016 (the year when the analysis was carried out) that they obtained their current job in other locality than where their home was.
Much more bizarre for Romania- the country with the highest number of citizens who went abroad and where the emigration flow tends to return to the high rates recorded before the financial crisis – is that the proportion of young unemployed who have declared themselves ready to leave to another EU country is 0:
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In Bulgaria, on the other hand, the proportion of those who would leave the country for a job is double the one of young unemployed willing to move to another locality in their country.
Young people from Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands seem the least interested in a job away from their home but in their native country.
Overall, at the EU level:
- about 50% of unemployed young people are reluctant to work in another locality, whether it is about domestic or international mobility
- 21% of respondents said they were willing to change their domicile but in the same country,
- 12% even agree to emigrate to another member state to have a job
- the share of those willing to go to a non-EU country exceeds the share of those willing to emigrate to a member state – 17%
Countries with the highest proportions of young people willing to leave within the EU to work are Estonia and Croatia (26%), as well as Slovenia.
The most willing to relocate outside the EU are young unemployed in Sweden (34%), Spain and Finland (28%) and France (27%).
The Eurostat study notes that there is a connection between job mobility and education – those with a high level of education are much more prepared to move to another locality (23% of them would accept a job in another locality in the same country, and 16 % would relocate to the EU).
