THE INFLUENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON LABOUR MARKET IN ROMANIA

The role of education and training in the human resources development, as elasticity mechanisms of the labour offer in relation with the demand, is recognized both at a national and an international level, being a strategic priority. Achieving a high degree of mobility and adaptability of the human capital as response to the demands resulted from the logic of the technological process is one of the conditions in reaching a higher economic performance. The education process, especially the higher education, assures the conditions for the labour market's flexibility, this meaning adapting competences to the new requirements specific to the new jobs, having consequences also on the degree of job security, increasing this, but also on finding another job more easily. The current economic theory and practice highlights the fact that the higher the education level the higher the employment rate. In our study, we intend to analyse the economic-statistical correlation between labour market indicators (employment rate and unemployment rate) and the education level, in Romania. between 1996 and 2008. The results of this research show that, in Romania, there are direct significant relationships between employment and the education level, and an inverse correlation between unemployment and the education level, fact that states the major role of education in the labour market.