The share European Union employees on low-wages stood at 17% in 2010, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said.
Romania is followed by Poland (24.2%) and Estonia (23.8%).
The lowest rates are registered in Sweden, where only 2.5% of employees earn low wages, Finland (5.9%), France (6.1%), Belgium (6.4%) and Denmark (7.7%).
Low-wage earners are defined as those employees earning two thirds or less of the national average gross hourly earnings. The thresholds that determine low-wage earners are specific to each member state, said Eurostat.
There are significant differences between men and women regarding the share of low-wage earners. Some 21.2% of female employees in the EU were low-wage earners, compared with 13.3% of male employees.
In Romania, the two shares are almost equal: 25.8% in the case on women and 25.5% in the case of men.
The level of education plays an important role, said Eurostat. The lower the level, the higher is the likelihood of being a low-wage earner.
In the European Union in 2010, 29% of employees with a low education level were low-wage earners, compared with 19.3% of those with a medium level and 5.8% of those with a high education level.
Over half of employees with a low level of education in Germany and Slovakia were low wage earners, and almost half in Romania (49.4%), according to Eurostat.
Over 31% of EU employees with contracts on definite period were low-wage earners, compared with 15.7% in the case of those with indefinite-period contracts.
In Romania, 35.4% of employees with definite-period contracts are low-wage earners and 25.4% of those with indefinite-period contracts.