Romania’s June wages show steepest real gain since before Ukraine war

The net wage in Romania increased by 15.7% y/y to RON 4,600 (EUR 927.5) in June. In real terms, it increased by 4.9% y/y (+4.5% y/y in May) – the highest real growth rate posted since February 2022, the statistics office INS announced.

Expressed in euros, the average net wage in Romania increased by 15.3% y/y. Corrected for the 5.5% y/y inflation in the euro area, this is a 9.3% real annual advance.

Speaking of the quarterly data, net wages rose by 4.3% y/y in Q2 (+0.1% y/y in Q1) – the steepest growth in the past two years.

Regarding specific industrial sectors, the wages in oil refining soared by 37.4% y/y to over twice the average wage and exceeded the average wages paid in the IT sector.

The water transport companies afforded pay 42.5% higher wages, but this was not much above the average wage.

Publishing houses – a sector that might include more lucrative sectors than simply book and paper publishing – paid 18.5% higher wages, which also exceeded the average wages paid in the IT sector.

The wages in the IT sector increased by 14.6% y/y not far from the average and above the inflation – to just over EUR 2,000.

(Photo: Lupoian Flaviu/ Dreamstime)