Romanian youth are asking for jobs, not deficit reduction

If they could assign the Niculescu government a single task for the next six months, most people would ask for more jobs for young people. In the INSCOP survey, this is followed by curbing price rises and raising incomes, but only one in four respondents expects the country's economic situation to improve within six months.

Job creation for young people was ranked first by 23.9 percent, reducing inflation and the cost of living by 19.2 percent, and raising incomes by 16.4 percent. Curbing corruption came fourth with 14.1 percent, putting cutting the deficit and state spending in fifth place with 11.1 percent, just ahead of improving healthcare and education, which 9.7 percent cited. At the Ministry of Finance, however, the deficit will still be one of the first figures they check. By the end of September it had fallen to 3.81 percent of GDP from 5.31 percent a year earlier, but according to Alexandru Nazare, meeting the annual target of 6.2 percent will also require the funds expected from the recovery fund to arrive on time.

On job creation, PSD and AUR voters ticked that box more often than average, as did people living in villages and those with only basic education. Among people under thirty, however, curbing price rises carried more weight than average, as it did among Bucharest residents, university graduates, public sector employees and PSD supporters. Raising incomes was prioritized mainly by Social Democrat voters, along with older people and residents of small towns, while taking action against corruption was chosen more often than average among PNL and USR supporters, men, people aged 30–44, university graduates, residents of large cities and public employees.

Asked what they expect to feel about all this in six months, 34.1 percent said the economic situation would stay the same, 30.5 percent expected it to get worse, and 25.2 percent expected improvement. PSD supporters and those over sixty are more optimistic than average, while USR and AUR voters, as well as people aged 30 to 59, more often expect things to worsen. According to Remus Ștefureac, director of INSCOP, it is precisely the doubts of working-age people that show how difficult a task the cabinet faces.

INSCOP surveyed 1,197 adults between October 26 and November 2, on behalf of Informat.ro and in cooperation with the Strategic Thinking Group—1,081 by phone and 116 online after an initial phone contact. The maximum margin of error reported, at a 95 percent confidence level, is ±2.8 percentage points.

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