“After 2016, salaries in the public sector went up at a rate of 20% a year, very fast (…) The local authorities made the major mistake, when the government allowed them to raise salaries as much as they could within a specific interval. Many raised their salaries to the upper cap, so very small town halls in the country are now paying a EUR1,000 net average salary,” said Ionut Dumitru, Fiscal Council chairman.
Besides the fast-paced salary raises in the healthcare and social work sector, the increase in spending was also due to the increase in the number of public sector employees. Their number reached 1.2 million in February 2019, 40,000 more than at the end of 2016.
Public sector salaries will exceed 10% of GDP this year, after having accounted for 9.1% of it in 2018, the same as in 2008. Four years ago, they stood at merely 7.5% of GDP (RON57 billion, compared with RON108 billion estimated for 2019). (EUR1=RON4.7581)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)