Romanian minimum wage

The minimum wage in Romania is among the lowest in Europe (the lowest after Bulgaria and Romania). In 2023, the Romanian minimum salary is 3,000 LEI (600 EUR) gross per month, i.e. a net salary of around 2,000 LEI (400 EUR) per month.

Employees in the construction sector benefit from a gross minimum wage of 4,000 LEI (800 EUR).

Employer cost

In Romania, the gross salary is almost equivalent to the employer's cost since the reform introduced in 2018 (see below) had the effect of shifting all the weight of social charges to the employee, de facto eliminating the employer's charges.

Evolution of the minimum wage in Romania

The Romanian minimum wage has continued to increase in recent years: the gross minimum wage has for example increased by 200% between 2014 and 2024, rising from 200 to 600 € over the period.

Part of this increase is, however, purely artificial and has not benefited employees since in January 2018, the government announced the massive increase in the minimum gross wage, which went from 1,450 Ron gross monthly to 1,900 Ron gross monthly (i.e. approximately EUR 415 gross per month) with the simultaneous transfer of employer charges to wage charges, which amounted to neutralizing the effect of the increase.

Impact of the huge gross minimum wage increase that took place in 2018

The spectacular increase in the gross minimum wage of 30% did not benefit employees since this increase was accompanied by the full transfer of employer charges to wage charges.

In order to measure the impact, let's take the example of a minimum wage in 2017 of 1,450 Ron gross monthly, which is increased to 1,900 Ron gross in January 2018.

The implications:

• While the gross minimum wage increased by 450 Ron, the minimum wage only increased by 97 Ron per month, or about 20 euros more per month.
• The total employer cost increased at the same time by 164 lei per month, or about 35 euros per month.