Romania sees widespread layoffs and falling employee concentration

In the first four months of 2024, around 19,000 Romanians lost their jobs, with the automobile, furniture and IT sectors bearing the brunt. Nearly 10,000 layoffs occurred in auto manufacturing, about 3,000 in IT and 2,000 in furniture; a plant in Oradea will cut roughly 120 jobs and a facility in Ineu will shut down, eliminating about 1,000 positions. Private‑sector collective dismissals exceeded 5,200, while the public sector is projected to shed more than 45,000 posts by 1 July. Unemployment remains low at 3.33 % at the end of March, yet employers report a shortage of qualified staff. The most in‑demand profiles include auto drivers, couriers, unskilled industrial workers, sales agents, and IT specialists such as back‑end and front‑end developers. The National Agency for Employment (ANOFM) is offering free retraining programs, with more than 100 sessions held in July alone.

Separately, Romanian workers are reporting reduced concentration on the job. Posts on Reddit reveal that many can stay focused for only four to five hours a day, with some managing just two productive hours, while others work up to eight‑12 hours in a six‑hour contract. Employees across sectors describe a mix of high pressure, reliance on automation, and a phenomenon dubbed “doomjobbing,” where repeated job applications yield few results. These observations highlight a broader challenge for the Romanian labour market beyond the raw layoff figures.