Last year, Romania had one of the lowest employment rates in the European Union, of 63.9 percent, while the EU average was 68.3 percent, according to data from Eurostat.

Only six EU countries have a lower employment rate than Romania, namely Greece - 53.2 percent, Croatia - 53.9 percent, Spain - 58.2 percent, Italy - 59.8 percent, Hungary - 63.2 percent, and Bulgaria - 63.5 percent. However, at the end of 2013, Romania had one of the lowest unemployment rates, of slightly over 7 percent.

The highest employment rates for those aged between 20 and 64 were recorded in Sweden - 79.8 percent, Germany - 77.1 percent, the Netherlands - 76.5 percent, Denmark - 75.6 percent, Austria - 75.5 percent, the UK - 74.9 percent and Estonia and Finland - both with 73.3 percent.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com