Wages keep rising fast in Romania

The average net wage in Romania increased to RON 2,936 (EUR 624), in January, 18.2% more than in the same month of 2018 (year-on-year).

The real increase, adjusted by the consumer price inflation, was 14.4% year-on-year in January, the highest real annual advance since February 2017.

The wages in the construction sector, which concentrates a significant share of total employment, recorded the fastest increase: 40.3% year-on-year in real terms to RON 2,687 (still below the average), thanks to the Government setting new (higher) statutory minimum wage for this sector particularly. Social security contributions for employees in this sector were removed, allowing the employers to increase the gross wages by only 17.2% year-on-year in January, in real terms, versus the real 13.0% year-on-year advance of the economy-wide average salaries.

Other sectors with high increases in net wages were education (+31.9%, to RON 3,239) and healthcare (+26.3%, to RON 3,715), mainly as a result of wage hikes operated by the Government in 2018.

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