Bucharest amongst top regions with highest share of brain business jobs

In Bucharest, fully 16.3% of adults are employed in brain business jobs, making it amongst the top-10 highest shares in all of Europe, according to an index by ECEPR.

The Geography of Europe’s Brain Business Jobs, an index that since 2017 has studied the geography of knowledge-intensive jobs in Europe, shows that in the average European region, 5.8% of adults work in brain business jobs, meaning that the share of knowledge-intensive workers in Bucharest is 181% higher than the average European region.

Another measure is high-value-creating jobs, which include not only the most knowledge-intensive occupations but also work in manufacturing industries and professional services. Fully 44.1% of adults in Bucharest are employed in these jobs. In the average European region, 31.2% of adults are employed in high-value-creating jobs.

In total numbers, there are 239,300 brain business jobs in Bucharest. This is slightly lower than 285,400 in Warsaw and 253,300 in Budapest, but higher than 162,400 in Prague. In all of Europe, the highest number is found in Paris, where nearly 1.3 million are employed in brain business jobs.

IT services is the most common brain business job in Bucharest, with 71,300 employed in companies in this sector. Additionally, 38,100 are employed in engineering & architecture, while 31,200 work in high-tech manufacturing.

“An important finding of this index is that regions need brain business jobs, or else jobs in manufacturing industries and professional services. Each percentage point higher of the population that is employed in these high-value-creating jobs corresponds with 0.21 percent lower regional unemployment. Essentially, regions need to have jobs high up on the value chain, to generate exports and stimulate job creation”, explains Nima Sanandaji, director of ECEPR.

In all previous editions of this index, the Slovakian capital region of Bratislava has had the highest concentration of brain business jobs per capita. This year Budapest climbs to the number one spot, followed by Bratislava and Prague in third place.

Oberbayern, Paris, Stockholm, the Oxford region (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire), Copenhagen, London, and Bucharest are the other top-10 regions.

Four of the regions in the top 10 are found in Eastern Europe, three in Western Europe, two in the Nordics, and one in Southern Europe.

“Financial resources are needed for jobs high up in the value chain to grow. Countries with competitive taxes tend to experience the fastest growth of knowledge-intensive jobs. Just above a third of the variation of growth rate in brain business jobs amongst European countries can be explained in the variance in the tax level,” said Klas Tikkanen, chief operating officer at Nordic Capital Advisors.