The average net wage in Romania increased by 3.6% y/y nominally to RON 5,518 (EUR 1,084) in January, while contracting by 5.5% y/y in real terms – the steepest decline in many years, according to data published by the statistics office INS. The correction seen over the past year comes after a steep (and unsustainable) 11.1% surge over the previous two years until January 2025. 

Amid persistent inflation, tight income policies in the budgetary sector, and uncertain economic growth affecting the real sector, the real wages are not expected to rise significantly during 2026 - with a negative impact on private consumption (which already contracted by 0.6% y/y in Q4 2025, reversing a small part of the robust 4.8% y/y advance boasted in Q4 2023).

Households’ lower real incomes already surfaced in the retail sales readings, with the January figure showing a steep 9.1% y/y plunge – with a milder 4.0% y/y reduction in the food sales and a more abrupt 11.3% y/y cut of the non-food sales. For comparison, the retail sales had increased by 12.2% over the two years to January 2025 (compared to 11.1% rise in the real net wage). 

Regarding the nominal rise in the net wage over the past 12 months, some sectors posted negative performances with the employees in the budgetary sector (education, health care, public administration), but also in sectors such as air transportation services, telecommunications, or clothing manufacturing earning less than a year ago. 

In contrast, the employees in the tobacco processing sector, HoReCa, or manufacturing of electronic and optical devices, boasted double-digit increases in their net wages that preserved their real incomes despite the 9.6% y/y consumer price inflation.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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