BestJobs: Eight out of ten Romanian employees consider working even after retirement

More than six out of ten Romanian employees say they do not currently have a plan to supplement their income when they retire, such as private pensions or real estate assets that they can rent or sell, relying strictly on the money they will receive from state pension. Under these conditions, two out of ten employees say they will definitely continue to work, even only part-time, and another six out of ten are considering this possibility, according to a survey conducted by the online recruitment platform BestJobs.

Currently, 85 percent of respondents say they have a net monthly salary below the threshold of 5,000 RON, and in this percentage about 30 percent earn below 3,000 RON, which does not allow them to make enough savings for retirement age. Another 10 percent earn between 5,000 and 10,000 RON per month, and the remaining 5 percent – over 10,000 RON per month.

Most of the respondents (47 percent) consider that they should have savings of up to 150,000 RON (30,000 euros) at the time of retirement, in order to have an old age without financial worries. Another 33 percent say that they should have between 175,000 and 300,000 RON (60,000 euros), 15 percent would like to have savings of 500,000 RON (100,000 euros), and the remaining 5 percent – above this threshold.

However, over half of the respondents would like to be able to save between 250 and 500 RON per month, 28 percent – between 500 and 750 RON, 13 percent – between 750 and 1,000 RON, and 5 percent – over 1,000 RON.

In fact, in order to have higher incomes that allow them to save, most of the employees consider changing their job. If in the last 12 months, due to the pandemic, two thirds of the respondents remained in the same job, now about four out of ten respondents are thinking of changing their job or even their field of activity, and 22.5 percent say they have already done steps in this direction.

The main criteria they will take into account when looking for a new job or field are: a higher salary (67 percent), job security (39 percent), more stability (32 percent), the possibility to work from home (31.5 percent), more free time (29.5 percent).

The survey was conducted between August 1-20, on a sample of 920 internet users in Romania.