Working in Romania
The average net salary in Romania was 4,959 lei (976 euros) last year, up 547 lei (almost 108 euros) from the previous year
Sorin Iordan, 02.10.2025, 13:09
The average net salary in Romania was 4,959 lei (976 euros) last year, up 547 lei (almost 108 euros) from the previous year, according to the National Institute of Statistics. The highest salaries were in information technology, financial intermediation and insurance, and in the production and supply of energy and gas. The lowest salaries were in the hospitality sector and in real estate transactions. Men had higher average net salaries than women in most economic activities, with the largest differences in the financial intermediation and insurance sector. By county, the lowest salary earnings were in the south of the country, in Teleorman, Vâlcea and Vrancea, and the highest in Bucharest and the counties of Cluj (northwest), Timiş (west), Iaşi (northeast) and Braşov (center).
Over 104,000 people were integrated into the Romanian labor market in the first eight months of the year, with the support of the territorial structures of the National Employment Agency. The institution shows that most of them, almost 53,000, are over 45 years old, and the fewest, about 8,000, are between 25 and 30 years old. Also, of the total, over 47% are women. Depending on residence, approximately 54,000 people employed in the mentioned period come from the urban area. Most of the employed people, over 34,000, have high school education, while almost 12,000 have graduated from a higher education institution. A ranking of the counties with the most employed people shows that Bucharest leads the ranking of regions with the most employment, over 10,000. The Romanian capital is followed by Iași, in the northeast, with approximately 4,500 and Timiș, in the west, with just over 4,000. The unemployment rate recorded at the national level was, at the end of August, 3.18%, 0.01 percentage points lower than in July and 0.09% higher than in August last year. Thus, the total number of unemployed people registered in the records of the National Employment Agency on August 31, 2025, was 253,731.
16.5% of construction managers and 14.8% of those in retail anticipate a downward trend in economic activity and an increase in prices in Romania in the period September-November 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics. In the retail sector, 15.2% of managers anticipate an increase in the number of employees by almost 10 percent. The survey conducted by the INS also reveals that managers in the manufacturing industry expect a relative stability of production and the number of employees for the next 3 months. Price increases are estimated by 47.4% of respondents and only 1.5% say that prices will decrease. Last but not least, in the services sector, the number of employees is expected to remain almost unchanged.
Over 500 people were found working without employment contracts at a courier company in Bucharest, announced the Romanian Minister of Labor, Florin Manole. He indicated that the fine of 200,000 lei (almost 40,000 euros), the maximum allowed by the legislation in force, is far too low to discourage abuses. That is why, the minister said, in the second package of legislative amendments, the ruling coalition in Romania proposed increasing fines for undeclared work. Moreover, Manole stated that he had recently discussed, at a debate of the National Trade Union Bloc on platform work, how important it is for people to have clear rights and real protection. In turn, the Deputy State Inspector General at the Labor Inspection, Mihai Uca, emphasized that the figure of 530 people identified as working illegally for a single employer, in a single day, is an extremely serious alarm signal and what is worse is that hundreds of people are thus left without social protection. He warned that the Labor Inspection will continue to intensify controls in all fields of activity, in order to discourage and sanction with maximum rigor any form of undeclared work.
