Labour market characteristics of the Partium region counties in Romania

Abstract

The article is focusing on the labour market of Nord-Western counties in Romania, located mainly near the internal border of the country with the European Union. Labour market in this semi-periphery, multi-linguistic border region of Romania is characterised by a massive outflow of active population (labour force). Difficulties in recording of labour outmigration to the EU requires a cautious interpretation of the specific social-economic indicators related to population/labour statistics. The aim of this paper is to investigate labour market evolution of this five Romanian counties situated in the Partium (Crisana) historical region during the previous decade. Our results indicate mixed effects of geographic location. The Western peripheral location partly has a positive effect on the labour market in the Partium region through gateway functions, but in other respects (semi-)peripheral characteristics (lower share of economic management and knowledge-intensive sectors, higher share of manufacturing and transport than national) are also present. The positive effects are concentrated along the main transportation routes, which split the region in two: in the southern part, Bihor and Arad show strong signs of catching up with the centre counties in terms of labour market indicators, while the three northern counties (Satu Mare, Sălaj, Maramureș) show a much more subdued performance.