Romania strengthens its position as a strategic destination for investments in the business services industry, a sector that generated a gross value added of 35.5 billion euros last year, approximately 10% of the total gross value added of the local economy, according to the Business Services Comparative Analysis 2025 study, conducted by Deloitte Romania for the Association of Business Service Leaders Romania (ABSL). Romania combines several of the most important criteria sought by international investors, such as the large-scale market, access to highly skilled workforce, strong foreign language capabilities, high productivity levels, competitive costs and significant expansion opportunities across multiple cities across Romania, the study shows.
Romania has one of the largest talent pools in Central and Eastern Europe among the analyzed markets, with approximately 8.3 million people in the labor force, being surpassed only by Poland. In addition, our country ranks second in the region in terms of the number of graduates and the size of its highly educated workforce, ensuring companies access to essential skills for complex operations and specialized services. The study also highlights Romania’s strong foreign language capabilities as a key competitive advantage for companies with international operations.
At the same time, labor productivity, measured as the economic output generated per hour worked, places Romania among the region’s top performers. Thus, with a score of 52.1, our country outperforms markets such as Poland (48.8) and Slovakia (47.6) and is close to the leaders Lithuania (54.7) and Portugal (54.4) and almost equal to Czechia (52.4), the study shows.
“The study confirms that the business services industry has become a strategic sector for the Romanian economy, both in terms of its scale and the value it generates. The more than 280,000 professionals working in the industry are no longer delivering support services alone, but are increasingly contributing to global transformation processes, technology, data analytics, automation and artificial intelligence. Romania’s next step is to turn the advantages it has today into long-term competitiveness by investing in advanced skills, education and infrastructure, while ensuring a predictable economic environment. We have the opportunity to evolve from a major business services destination into a regional hub for innovation and high-value-added activities, and our ability to seize this opportunity will shape the industry’s development in the years ahead”, said Adrian Baron, President of ABSL Romania.
Despite recent inflationary pressures, the study shows that Romania remains one of the most competitive European locations in terms of total employment cost. A comparison of this indicator for a mid-level General Ledger Accountant across the countries analyzed places Romania among the lowest-cost destinations, with only Bulgaria having lower costs in the region. At the opposite end of the ranking, Portugal, Czechia, Slovakia and Estonia record the highest employment costs. Simulations through 2030, taking into account effects of the forecasted inflation rates, indicate that Romania will retain its competitive edge and remain among the most cost-effective European markets for operating business services centers. According to this simulation, in 2030, the ranking of countries with the lowest total employment costs is expected to be led by India, the Philippines and Bulgaria, but Romania would maintain its competitiveness even in the context of higher levels of inflation, ranking sixth. On the other hand, the highest total employment costs are estimated in Portugal (13th place), the Czech Republic (12th place) and Slovakia (11th place).
Regarding the expansion of the business services ecosystem beyond the capital city, the study highlights Romania’s strong potential supported by its network of ten cities with over 200,000 inhabitants, being the second European country after Poland on this indicator. Also, more than 14 other cities with populations between 90,000 and 200,000 inhabitants offer favorable conditions for new investments or expansions of existing operations. Cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Timisoara, Brasov, Sibiu, Oradea or Constanta provide investors with a significant labor pool, strong university graduate output, less saturated labor markets and competitive operating costs.
"Romania has long outgrown its status as a destination based solely on cost advantage. Today Romania represents a mature market, capable of supporting complex services, high value-added activities and transformation programs at a global scale. The combination of the ecosystem size, access to a large highly skilled workforce, accelerated city development and cost competitiveness continue to position Romania among the most attractive locations for business services investments in Europe. For companies considering a new investment, but also for those already present, Romania offers safe and stable opportunities for long-term growth and development", said Tomas Husner, Global Business Services Advisory Leader, Deloitte Romania.
Romania currently hosts over 1,000 service centers and over 280,000 employees, making it one of the most developed business services markets in Central and Eastern Europe. The sector already represents 15.2% of the country’s highly educated workforce, confirming the high level of specialization and maturity of the business services environment. In addition, the local sector recorded a 9.9% increase in the share of the economy's total gross value added in 2025, confirming the positive dynamics and continued attractiveness for new investments and expansions of existing operations.
The second edition of Deloitte's "Business Services Comparative Analysis" compares ten European countries and three Asian markets, analyzing a wide range of macroeconomic and industry-specific indicators, such as labor availability, operating costs, productivity, inflation, the real estate market, grants and incentives for investment, as well as other factors relevant to the business environment.
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Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through 3,300 professionals.
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The Association of Business Service Leaders Romania (ABSL) is the leading organization representing the business services sector, gathering high profile companies which conduct business in the area of Shared Services Center (SSC), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), Research and Development (R&D).
