Long commutes pile pressure on 314,000 working carers in Romania
A new report shows that for Romanians who work and care for a child or dependent relative, the distance between home and workplace is the main obstacle to balancing the two.
Illustration: AI-generated image
For 314,000 Romanians who hold down a job while looking after a child or a dependent relative, the biggest barrier to juggling work and family is not the shift pattern or the workload – it’s the journey. That figure comes from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) “Reconciliation of professional and family life” survey, carried out throughout 2025.
Out of roughly 1.82 million employed people with care responsibilities, 733,000 said their job makes family life harder. Among those facing work-related obstacles, 42.9% pointed to the long distance between their usual home and their workplace as the main difficulty. Unpredictable or difficult schedules came second at 29.4%, followed by exhausting tasks (15.6%) and extended hours (11.2%).
The problem appears in every sector, but construction workers are hit hardest. In construction, 61% of those reporting obstacles named distance, compared with 49% in industry, 42.2% in agriculture and 36.3% in services. Unskilled and skilled manual workers were far more likely to cite the commute than other employees.
The urban-rural split is stark. In rural areas, 50.8% of working carers facing obstacles said distance was the main issue, against 36.3% in cities. In absolute numbers, about 170,000 rural workers with caring duties named distance, compared with around 144,000 in urban areas. Men were slightly more likely than women to report this obstacle, and nearly two-thirds of those who did were male.
Almost two million Romanians commute to work, with around a third crossing a county border. Ilfov county, which surrounds Bucharest, has the highest share of commuters – nearly half of its employed residents work elsewhere, most likely in the capital.
Despite the strain, few people adjust their working lives. Only one in ten working carers made any change at work, most often shifting their schedule. Remote work was rare, mentioned by just 3%. Women were twice as likely as men to make a change. Meanwhile, 65.1% of those caring for children under 15 do not use a crèche, kindergarten, after-school club or nanny.
