The number of job vacancies in the economy, an indicator of the shortage of labor at national level, increased by 11% in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same period in 2015, reaching 60,700.

It slightly decreased compared to the third quarter of 2016.

The average rate of job vacancies, representing the share of vacancies in the total available jobs, amounted to 1.29% in the fourth quarter of last year, down 0.05 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, but up 0.08 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.

The highest job vacancy rates were recorded in public administration (4.01%) and health and social assistance (3.04%), according to data published yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INS). Public administration recorded 10,500 vacant jobs whereas the healthcare and social assistance sector saw some 9,800 vacant jobs. In education, the country recorded some 2,600 vacant jobs.

In the private sector, the biggest labor shortage was recorded in the manufacturing industry, which saw 14,500 vacant jobs in the last three months of 2016, namely 1.25% of the total available jobs in the sector.

editor@romania-insider.com