Net wages in Romania up 13.6% in comparable prices as of February

The average net wage in Romania rose by 17.9% y/y to RON 2,933 (EUR 618) in February, the National Statistics Institute (INS) informed.

Since the consumer prices increased by 3.8% in the last year, the net average wage increased by only 13.6% in real terms (comparable prices), which is still an impressive growth and significantly above the medium-term trend.

Furthermore, the net wages risk increasingly above the labor productivity: in industry, for instance, productivity edged up by a modest 1.3% year-on-year in January (latest available data) and 3.1% in 2018 compared to 2017 while the net wages were real 10% year-on-year in January and 5.4% in 2018.

Real average pay in Romania has been growing at double-digit rates for the past three years, mainly supported by increases in public sector salaries and the minimum wage. The same drivers remained in place in 2019: the minimum wage increased by 9% and 23.5% for the employees with higher education as of January this year.

In February, the average wages in education were 36.6% higher than last year while those in health care were 31.5% higher. A steeper increase was seen only in the sector of constructions (+43% year-on-year) thanks to preferential wages guarantees in the sector, where the health care contributions and income tax are also waived.

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