Romanian minimum wages will increase probably from January 1, 2019 instead of the previously planned December 1, labor minister Marius Budăi said. Last month then labor minister Lia Olguța Vasilescu announced that the wage increase will be brought forward to December 1, the centenary of Romanian unification. She has since been replaced by Budăi in the latest cabinet reshuffle. A new category of minimum wage for those with higher education will also be introduced and the minimum wage for those with over 15 years of work experience will also be increased.
For this to happen, Parliament has recently amended the the Labor Code to differentiate specific types of minimum wages. The government – and the government is expected to issue a decree with the actual increase per category, Budăi said. In line with the government’s medium-term plan to increase public employee wages by 2022, in 2019 those wages wages will increase with a proportional 25%.
The new minimum wage will be RON 2,080 ($509) and RON 2,350 ($575) for those with superior studies, respectively.
