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