Within this framework, Mihaela Haragus and Ionuț Földes presented “Intergenerational Care Challenges in Romania: Assessing Senior Citizens' Access to Care amid Migration and Service Gaps”. Drawing on a nationwide survey of 900 individuals aged 65 and older, their study analysed care arrangements, unmet needs, and access to both formal and informal support. The findings highlight significant care gaps, particularly among vulnerable groups and in underdeveloped regions, where limited public services increase reliance on family members and informal networks. At the same time, the research points to the resilience of these networks in compensating for structural deficiencies, while also revealing pronounced regional inequalities in care provision.
Complementing this perspective, Denisa Ursu presented “Transformative Social Protection and the Future of Care Work: Addressing Labor Market Challenges in Romanian Senior Care”. Based on qualitative interviews with care workers and managers in nursing homes, the study examined working conditions, including low wages, staff shortages, and burnout, as well as institutional challenges such as funding constraints and regulatory pressures. The paper situates these issues within broader labour market transformations and discusses the potential emergence of platform-based care work. It argues for the need for transformative social protection policies to improve working conditions, ensure job security, and address structural inequalities in the care sector.
Taken together, the contributions address care both as a site of social inequality and as a critical infrastructure of support under conditions of demographic and economic pressure. By linking questions of access, labour, and social protection, they reflect the forum’s broader concern with justice in rapidly transforming social systems.
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