Over half of the work contracts in Romania had lower or equal value to the minimum gross wage after the fiscal changes came into force at the beginning of this year, according to the Social Monitor report by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Romania.

In November 2017, before the fiscal changes came into force, there were 1.07 million work contracts whose value was lower than the minimum gross wage, namely 17% of the total, and 1.95 million contracts whose value was equal to the minimum wage, namely 30.8% of the total.

In February 2018, the number of contracts with values lower than the minimum gross wage increased to 1.42 million, namely 22.7% of the total, while the number of contracts with values equal to the minimum wage went down to 1.74 million (27.8%) of the total, according to the report.

In November 2017, the median gross value of the work contracts in Romania was RON 1,551 per month, over the minimum gross wage at that time (RON 1,450). In February 2018, the media value of labor contracts in Romania reached RON 1,799 and was below the minimum gross wage level (RON 1,900).

The minimum gross wage went up from RON 1,450 to RON 1,900 in January 2018 but this was mainly to compensate the social contribution transfer from employers to employees.

editor@romania-insider.com