Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said that as of Monday, the gross minimum wage will increase from 3,300 to 3,700 RON for 1.8 million employees, mostly in the private sector, this increase allowing the implementation of the European minimum wage as of January 1, 2025.

„Ten years ago, the gross minimum wage was 800 RON. Today we have 2,900 RON more, an increase of 363 percent! And 84 percent of this increase in the last decade was achieved with PSD [the Social Democratic Party] in government. The net minimum wage has increased by 293 percent in 10 years, from 601 RON at the end of 2013 to 2,363 RON today. Yes, prices have also gone up. According to INS [the National Institute of Statistics], in those 10 years, prices have increased on average by 53.26 percent, which indicates a real increase, above inflation, of 157 percent of the net minimum wage,” Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

According to the social-democrat leader, the PSD’s presence in government is now a firm guarantee of rising living standards, especially for people with low incomes – minimum wage earners or pensioners.

„Today’s increase is all the more important as it allows us to implement the European minimum wage as of January 1, 2025, which means that the lowest wage in Romania will represent about half of the average wage,” the prime minister said.

AGERPRES