The European Parliament adopted new legislation on adequate minimum wages in the EU on September 14. It stipulates, among other things, that countries must ensure that the minimum wages they set allow workers to have a decent living, taking into account the cost of living and the general level of wages.

To assess the adequacy of their existing legal minimum wages, Member States may use as a reference a basket of goods and services at real prices or may set them at 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage, Digi24 reported.

In-work at-risk-of-poverty rate was 15.6% in Romania at the end of 2021, double the EU average, according to Eurostat. Historically, Romania’s in-work at-risk-of-poverty rate reached a record high of 19.8% in December 2014 and a record low of 14.9% in December 2020.

Social Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu said that his party, which is the senior ruling party in the ruling coalition, would support a minimum gross wage of RON 3,000 (EUR 600) as of January 2023 - some 20% up from now.

About one-third of Romanian employees are paid the minimum statutory wage.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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