Another increase in the minimum wage in Romania

Minimum wage in Romania goes up again as of January 1st 2025

Daniela Budu, 17.10.2024, 13:50

The minimum wage in Romania will increase starting January 1, 2025 to 4,050 lei (about 810 euros) from the current 3,700 (about 740 euros) – according to what representatives of the Government, trade unions and employers agreed in the Tripartite National Committee. In this way Romania gets in line with the requirements regarding the European minimum wage. In a post on the Internet, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu states that the country thus reaches a level of 47% of the minimum wage average in the EU and complies with the Community directive which reads that this value must fall between 47 and 52%.

The President of the National Trade Union Bloc, Dumitru Costin, was only partially satisfied with the increase. Dumitru Costin:

“This increase is not enough, it is a step forward. Recently, the Senate voted an amendment to the draft law approved by the Government, which would’ve meant a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 52, within the negotiation range established by the Government, employers and unions. The business environment had the political support even from the level of the governing coalition, but the minimum 50 maximum 52 turned into to a minimum of 47. Anyway, the debates and the final vote on the law in the Chamber of Deputies will follow in the next days.”

This minimum wage increase, the trade union leader believes, will lead to other wage increases within some companies or institutions because differentiation will have to be made according to responsibility, the complexity of the work in question, and length of service. According to him, it is about one million people who will benefit from this increase. Dumitru Costin believes that the business environment can support the new value.

On the other hand, the general secretary of the National Council of SMEs, Sterică Fudulea, has stated that the increase in the minimum wage requires companies to allocate 350 lei (70 euros) more for each employee, which represents an important financial effort for small companies.

Here is Sterica Fudulea about the increase in the minimum wage:

“It should not have increased because it is already the second increase in six months. We are already talking about an increase of another 12% compared to the one in the middle of the year which stood at 11%. However, I proposed that the 300 lei facility should remain in this increase of the national minimum wage.”

It’s the exemption from the payment of tax and social contributions for 300 lei from the minimum national gross wage, on which the Government and the stakeholders also agreed. (MI)