SPECIFIC FEATURES OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR MARKET IN ROMANIA AS COMPARED WITH OTHER SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Using textual and contextual analyses method, this paper approaches first the labour market policies in the EU and Romania, then the efficiency of the Romanian National Employment Agency. With the comparative analysis method, the paper also investigates the performance of Romania’s economy as compared with Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece’s economies during 2007-2016, using indicators associated with population and social conditions. The labour market data reveals visible differences between the analysed countries. The paper concludes that, as compared with the other three countries, Romania has broadly a better performance on the labour market, but still the employment rate is below the Europe 2020 Strategy target. Romania is making limited and small progress to support the young people activation and to improve the labour market conditions, implementing measures with low impact. New tailored strategies and innovative approaches are necessary in order to support the young people integration into the labour market