Romania Snapshot
With a population of some 20 million inhabitants (January 2013), Romania is simply too large to be ignored.
In the European Union, Romania ranks 9th largest in terms of area and 7th largest in population. These factors make Romania one of the largest consumer markets in the EU, as well as an attractive manufacturing hub.
The country’s 4-year average forecast (2019-2021), places its economic performance at a level of 5.5%, which is well above the EU average.
Top Services Offerings
Office Space Market
Over the past few years, Romania has been steadily growing in popularity for the business services sector and increasingly continues to attract new interest compared to its peers in some of the more developed markets in CEE such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Romania has also broadened its appeal from a pure call center location, into a higher value add destination for the business services sector. Consequently, both demand and supply of office spaces have undergone significant changes over the last 5-7 years.
The office market has evolved to better accommodate the needs of the business services sector, as this represents the main driver of office demand through the opening of new operations, expansions and recently, through the consolidation of local operations. Construction activity is set to accelerate in 2018, when over 300,000 sqm of office spaces are expected to reach the market.
Labor Market
In the context of economic transition, the Romanian labour market experienced significant changes in terms of the volume and structure of the main labour force indicators.
This process was characterised by the reduction of the economically active population and of employment, with a relatively steady level of the unemployment rate. But the financial crisis, which started in the second half of 2008, had effects on the structure of the labour force, while reducing employment, bringing an increase of the phenomenon of unemployment.
Investor benefit
During the last few years, Romania has become an attractive market for the outsourcing industry. Good availability of qualified resources, high language proficiency and a low cost labor market have placed Romania on the global outsourcing market.
Romania ranks second in Central and Eastern Europe after Poland and ninth place globally amongst the most attractive destinations for outsourcing of business services sector, following the development trends in most European countries.