As announced while the government was assuming responsibility for a new set of fiscal-budgetary legislation, minimum salaries in Romania will be raised by 10%, the equivalent of 660 euros. The benefits are more than 1.8 million employees working mainly in transport, trade and SMEs.
The pay raise aimed at safeguarding every employee's income, at the same time boosting employment, purchasing power, and curbing illegal work. Other social categories in the low income bracket, such as the handicapped and those involved with various independent activities and intellectual property rights, will also benefit from the new measure.
This government will not give up on the priority of raising the minimum salary and we would like to have another raise in 2024, which we are going to discuss with social partners, the head of the Romanian executive Marcel Ciolacu said. The Romanian official insists that no minimum wages are to decrease in Romania after the implementation of the new fiscal-budgetary law package for which the government has assumed responsibility before parliament. The Executive decided to scrap the draft ordinance on raising the minimum salaries in the construction sector because these salaries would have decreased upon the introduction of the health insurance contributions. Construction workers in constructions, agriculture and food industry will be paid the same because they don't have to pay health benefits.
The government originally wanted to raise the minimum gross wage in constructions to 4500 lei, equivalent to roughly 900 euros, but the National Trade Union Block proposed that the gross wages in constructions be raised to 46hundert lei and agriculture to 35hundert lei. The new form of the aforementioned ordinance could be high on the agenda of the new round of talks the government is going to have next week. The Finance Ministry has enough time to recalculate the money involved.