Romania’s average net wage rose by 4.4% y/y to RON 5,674 (EUR 1,115) in Q4 last year, but the nominal advance was fully offset by the high 9.7% y/y inflation, resulting in a 4.9% y/y real decline in employees’ purchasing power, according to data published by the statistics office INS.

It was the second consecutive quarter with negative real dynamics of the net wages in Romania, after the electricity price liberalisation in July and the VAT rate hike in August pushed up the headline inflation close to 10%.

Blocked wages in the public sector and cautious income policies in the private sector contributed as well.

Expressed in euros, the net average wage kept rising, by 2.1% y/y in Q4 – in line with the consumer price inflation in the euro area.

The wages in Romania have undergone a sharp correction during the second half of last year, after an unsustainable rally in 2023 and particularly 2024 amid an intense electoral year. In real terms, the average net wage rose by 4.4% in 2023 and 7.4% in 2024 – hence by a combined rate of over 10%.

For comparison, the average decline in 2025 was only 0.6% y/y. Quarterly data indicate a steeper decline in H2 last year, but the average net wage in Q4, in real terms, was still 1.65% above that in Q4 2023.

In the manufacturing sector, the net average wage increased by 2.7% (real terms) in Q4 2025, compared to the last quarter of 2023. There were sectors where below-average wages lost further momentum – in agriculture, wood processing, and rubber/plastic manufacturing. But other sectors, with above-average wages, have thrived: pharmaceuticals manufacturing, production of automobiles and other transport means, oil and gas extraction, and manufacturing of beverages.

In the budgetary sector, the real wages in public administration were, in Q4 last year, 2.4% smaller compared to two years earlier – but still above average (nearly RON 7,000), while the wages in education and healthcare have edged up marginally (real terms) compared to two years ago, while remaining close to the economy-wide average.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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