Romania’s young employees face high poverty risk

Almost one-third (28.2%) of the employed population in the 18-24 age bracket in Romania in 2017 was at risk of poverty, this being the highest percentage in the EU where the average was 11%, according to data released Tuesday, January 22 by Eurostat. Other member states where the risk of poverty among young people is high are: Luxembourg (20%), Denmark (19.1%), Spain (19%) and Estonia (18.4%). At the opposite end, in three member states less than 5% of the young people working were at risk of poverty, namely in Czech Republic (1.5%), Slovakia (3.8%) and Finland (4.2%). In 2017, in the European Union, the share of working population in the 18 to 24 age bracket at risk of poverty was 11%, 1.1 percentage points below the figure of 2016. Eurostat reports that this share decreased each year, after reaching a peak of 12.9% in 2014. A similar trend was registered in Romania, where the share dropped from one the peak of 33.5% in 2015 to 31.2% in 2016, to reach 28.2% in 2017. People are identified as being at risk of poverty if their disposable income is less than 60% of the median national disposable income available after deduction of social transfers. Romania, second highest share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in EU editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Pixabay.com)