Bucharest amongst top-regions with highest share of brain business jobs

The Geography of Europe’s Brain Business Jobs is an index that since 2017 has studied the geography of knowledge-intensive jobs in Europe. The index by ECEPR, with support from Nordic Capital, measures the share of the working-age population across Europe employed in highly knowledge-intensive enterprises, in 31 countries and 277 regions.

“An important finding of this index is that regions need brain business jobs, or else jobs in manufacturing industries and professional services. Each percentage point higher share of the population that are employed in these high-value-creating jobs corresponds with 0.21 percent lower regional unemployment. Essentially, regions need to have jobs high up on the value chain, to generate exports and stimulate job creation”, explains Nima Sanandaji, director of ECEPR.

Klas Tikkanen, chief operating officer at Nordic Capital Advisors, adds, “Financial resources are needed for jobs high up in the value chain to grow. Countries with competitive taxes tend to experience fastest growth of knowledge-intensive jobs. Just above a third of the variation of growth rate in brain business jobs amongst European countries can be explained in the variance in the tax level”.

239 300 brain business jobs in Bucharest

In total numbers, there are 239 300 brain business jobs in Bucharest. This is slightly lower than 285 400 in Warsaw and 253 300 in Budapest, but higher than 162 400 in Prague. In all of Europe, the highest number is found in Paris, where nearly 1.3 million are employed in brain business jobs.

IT services is the most common brain business jobs activity in Bucharest

IT services is the most common brain business job in Bucharest, with 71 300 employed in companies in this sector. Additionally, 38 100 are employed in engineering & architecture , while 31 200 work in high-tech manufacturing.

4 out of 10 top brain business jobs regions are found in Eastern Europe, 3 in Western, 2 in the Nordics, and 1 in Southern Europe

In all previous editions of this index, the Slovakian capital region of Bratislava has had the highest concentration of brain business jobs per capita. This year Budapest climbs to the number one spot, followed by Bratislava and Prague on third place. Oberbayern, Paris, Stockholm, the Oxford region (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire), Copenhagen, London, and Bucharest are the other top-10 regions. Four of the regions in the top-10 are found in Eastern Europe, three in Western Europe, two in the Nordics, and one in Southern Europe.