Romania registers fifth widest gender employment gap in EU

Romania had in 2014 one of the biggest differences between the employment rate of women and that of men in the EU, of -16.7 percentage points, according to recent data from Eurostat. The data are available for people aged 20-64. Romania had the fifth widest gender employment gap, after Malta (-28.4 percentage points), Italy (-19.4 percentage points), Greece (-18.3 percentage points) and the Czech Republic (-17.5 percentage points). On the other hand, the lowest difference was recorded in Finland (-1.9 percentage points), followed by Lithuania (-2.5 percentage points), Latvia and Sweden (-4.6 percentage points). At EU level, the difference between the employment rate of women aged 20-64 and that of men aged was -11.5 percentage points in 2014. Romania had an employment rate of 65.7% in 2014, up from 64.7% the year before, but below the 70% target for 2020. More men than women had jobs - the employment rate of men (74%) was higher than that of women (57.3%). At EU level, the employment rate was 69.2% in 2014, up from 68.2% the year before. The 2020 target is 75%. For the 55-64 age group, Romania had an employment rate of 41.8% in 2013 and 43.1% in 2014. It was still under the EU level of 50.1% in 2013 and 51.8% last year. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com