Review & Trends 2024: Capital’s employees earn highest in Romania; IT tops, beauty sector lowest

In 2023, Romania had over 5.7 million active employees. According to data from the eighth edition of the annual Review & Trends report by eJobs, 29.2% of employees earned between 3,001 and 4,000 lei. 26.1% earned between 4,001 and 7,000 lei, and 21.1% between 2,001 and 3,000. 7.8% earned less than 2,000 lei net per month, 10.3% between 7,001 and 10,000 lei, and 5.5% over 10,000 lei. These averages were extracted from over 700,000 salaries entered by employees in Salario, eJobs’ salary comparator.   The best paid in 2023 were employees in the capital, who recorded a monthly net average of 5,000 lei (the average includes all fields of activity and all levels of experience and professional training). Timis County was second with 4,700 lei net, followed by Cluj (4,500 lei), Ilfov, Iasi, Brasov, Sibiu, and Satu Mare (all with 4,000 lei).   With a net average of 3,100 lei per month, Caras-Severin is the county with the lowest salaries in Romania. Also in the same list are Gorj, Ialomita, and Valcea – all three with averages of 3,200 lei; Vaslui (3,300 lei), Covasna, and Vrancea (3,400 lei); Calarasi, Teleorman, and Mehedinti (3,500 lei).   Regardless of the counties they are in, IT employees were the best paid in 2023 – 6,500 lei per month. Those in project management and research/development had an average salary of 6,000 lei per month, those in management 5,500 lei, while the average salary in construction/installations was 5,000 lei per month. The lowest averages were marked by those working in the beauty services sector (3,000 lei), au pair/babysitting/cleaning (3,000 lei), office/back-office/secretariat (3,100 lei), manufacturing (3,300 lei), and tourism (3,400 lei).   “Salaries and how they have evolved or stagnated was one of the most discussed topics in 2023, especially since the end of the year came with a package of fiscal changes that affected four areas with significant annual volumes of hiring: IT, construction, food industry, and agriculture. From November 1st, the income tax exemption for those working in these areas was eliminated. However, the average salary in the economy increased in 2023 to 4,692 lei, from 3,949, as it was in 2022,” says Bogdan Badea, CEO of eJobs, the largest online recruitment platform in Romania.   The most sought-after jobs on eJobs last year were drivers – for which the average salary is 3,800 lei per month, nurses (4,500 lei net), call center operators (2,800 lei), accountants (3,700 lei), engineers (4,800 lei), and economists (4,500 lei).   “In 2023 we had 148,000 jobs with displayed salaries on eJobs. Generally, these receive 40% more applications than those without, even though only 9% of companies made salary transparency part of their policy at the beginning of last year and 34% were open to adopting it. It is very likely that these percentages will increase significantly in 2024, a year in which we will see much more pragmatism in the labor market, both from candidates and employers,” points out Bogdan Badea.   The highest salaries entered in 2023 by employees in Salario were 42,000 lei – salary earned by a CEO, 25,000 lei (naval officer), 45,000 lei (IT architect or CTO).   However, market averages for these positions are 18,000 lei for a CEO (the average covers all counties and fields, as well as all types of companies, including multinationals or startups), 16,000 lei for a naval officer, 15,000 lei for an IT architect, and 14,000 lei for a CTO.