The average gross monthly earnings registered in 2023 were RON7,042. The average net monthly earnings were RON4,412, increasing by 16.1% (+RON611) compared to the previous year. The highest values of the average net monthly earnings achieved in 2023, compared to the mean value by economy, were registered in the following economic activities: information and communication (+94.6%), financial and insurance activities (+63.3%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (+62.0%), mining and quarrying (+42.2%), respectively public administration (+41.1%).
The lowest values of the average net monthly earnings compared to the mean value by economy were in the following economic activities: accommodation and food service activities (-41.7%), other service activities (-36.0%), real estate activities (-25.9%), administrative and support service activities (-21.2%), water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-18.8%), arts, entertainment and recreation (-18.1%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (-15.9%), wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-14.7%), manufacturing (-8.4%), transportation and storage (-2.8%), respectively construction (-1.8%).
For year 2023, the real earnings index (expressed as ratio of the net nominal earnings index and the consumer price index of the population) was 233.8% as compared to 1990, higher by 11.4 percentage points as compared to the previous year.
Female employees earned on average, in gross terms, 5.5% less than male employees, achieving average gross monthly earnings of RON6,835 (as compared to RON7,233 for male employees). In net terms, female employees earned by 8.2%, respectively lower by RON377/month than male employees (RON4,216 the average net monthly earnings of female employees, compared to RON4,593 of male employees).
Male employees achieved higher average net monthly earnings compared with the ones of female employees in almost all economic activities and the most significant differences were found in financial and insurance activities (32.8%), manufacturing (24.2%), information and communication (21.1%), other service activities (18.6%), respectively in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (18.5%).
In territorial profile, by counties, the average net monthly earnings in 2023 were below the average by total economy in 37 of the counties.
The lowest levels of the average net monthly earnings were registered in Vrancea (RON3,344, 24.2% less than the average on total economy), Teleorman (RON3,353, 24.0% less than the average on total economy), Botosani (RON3,430, 22.3% less than the average on total economy), Valcea (RON3,435, 22.1% less than the average on total economy), Braila and Vaslui (RON3,446 each, 21.9% less than the average on total economy), respectively Bistrita Nasaud (RON3,447, 21.9% less than the average on total economy).
At the opposite side, with the highest levels of the average net monthly earnings were Bucharest Municipality (RON6,053, 37.2% above the average on total economy), respectively the counties of Cluj (RON5,344, 21.1% above the average on total economy), Timis (RON4,910, 11.3% above the average on total economy), Ilfov (RON4,602, 4.3% above the average on total economy) and Iasi (RON4,568, 3.5% above the average on total economy).
The average monthly labor cost The average monthly labor cost amounted to RON7,374/employee in 2023, more by 14.8% compared to the previous year.
The average monthly labor cost increased in all economic activities compared to the previous year and the most important increases were in construction (+26.1%), transportation and storage (+21.0%), education (+20.0%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (+19.4%), real estate activities (18.0%), administrative and support service activities (+17.7%), respectively in accommodation and food service activities (+17.0%).
The smallest increase of the average monthly labor cost as compared to the previous year was registered in human health and social work activities (+5.7%).
In order to support the economic and social units, transfers were granted from the state budget to the employer for the time not worked (in case of technical unemployment at the initiative of the employer, temporary reduction of the working time, supervision of children in the situation of temporary closure of the educational institutions), respectively for the stimulation of employment by (re)employing certain categories of people (for example: graduates, unemployed).
The share of these transfers in the total expenditure of the labor force (direct and indirect costs) was lower compared to the previous year, with moderate differences by economic activities. Thus, the largest amounts related to transfers from the state budget were found in the activities of manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, administrative and support service activities, respectively accommodation and food service activities.
As compared to the average by total economy, the average monthly labor cost was significant higher in information and communication (+91.6%), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (+71.5%), financial and insurance activities (+70.1%), mining and quarrying (+50.0%), professional, scientific and technical activities (+19.9%), public administration (+19.1%), respectively human health and social work activities (+16.2%).
The most relevant values of the average monthly labor cost below the average by total economy were registered in accommodation and food service activities (-41.8%), other service activities (-35.3%), agriculture, forestry and fishing (-23.3%), real estate activities (-22.5%), respectively administrative and support service activities (-19.9%).
The average number of employees In 2023, the average number of employees was 5364.9 thousand people. The average number of employees increased during 2023 by 155.4 thousand people compared to the previous year, as a result of the expansion of the activity of certain economic and social units. The average number of male employees predominated as in the previous years, representing 52.0% of total employees (respectively 2790.3 thousand people).
Compared to previous year, the average number of male employees increased by 78.9 thousand people, and that of female employees by 76.5 thousand people.
The distribution of the employees by economic sectors showed that most of them were in the tertiary sector (64.1%) (commercial services with 44.0% and social services with 20.1%). In the secondary sector (industry and construction) worked 33.5% of the employees and in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fishing) only 2.4%.
The activities of construction and mining and quarrying were carried out mainly by male employees and represented 86.1%, respectively 84.0% of the total number of employees belonging to these economic activities.
The economic activities in which female employees held the majority were those of human health and social work activities (80.2%), education (73.5%), financial and insurance activities (70.0%), accommodation and food service activities (61.3%), public administration (59.7%), arts, entertainment and recreation (59.6%), other service activities (55.0%), respectively wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (52.8%).
As compared to the previous year, significant increases of the average number of employees were registered in construction (+28.4 thousand people), manufacturing (+20.1 thousand people), accommodation and food service activities (+15.6 thousand people), wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (+15.4 thousand people), information and communication (+12.9 thousand people), administrative and support service activities (+12.1 thousand people), transportation and storage (+11.3 thousand people), professional, scientific and technical activities (+9.9 thousand people), respectively in human health and social work activities (+8.1 thousand people).
At the opposite side, slight decreases of the average number of employees were noticed only in public administration (-0.8 thousand people), mining and quarrying (-0.6 thousand people), respectively in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (-0.1 thousand people).
The number of employees at the end of 2023 was 5677.3 thousand people. As compared to the end of the previous year, the number of employees registered an increase of 70.2 thousand people, of which 36.6 thousand people were female employees.
In territorial profile, the number of employees increased in all development regions, compared to the end of the previous year, and the most
significant were in the regions Bucharest-Ilfov with 25.7 thousand people, Nord-East with 12.5 thousand people, Center with 7.9 thousand people, Nord-West with 7.3 thousand people, respectively South-Muntenia with 5.4 thousand people.
In Bucharest-Ilfov region, 22.6% of employees in the total economy were concentrated, being followed by the regions North-West (13.8%), respectively Center (12.7%).
The development regions in which the activities of the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fishing) exceeded the share at the national level (2.4%) were: South-Muntenia (4.0%), South-East (3.6%), North-East (3.2%), South-West Oltenia (2.9%), West (2.8%), respectively Center (2.5%).
The development regions that concentrate a proportion of employees in the industry and construction sector higher to the share at the national level (33.1%) were: Center (40.1%), West (38.4%), North-West (37.8%), SouthMuntenia (37.7%), respectively South-West Oltenia (35.9%).
The highest proportion of the employees in the commercial services was found in Bucharest-Ilfov region (61.9% as compared to 44.6% the share at the national level) and in the social services sector, the highest proportion was registered in the North-East region (26.2% as compared to 19.9% the share at the national level).
At the end of 2023, the majority of employees was in the private companies (76.8%) and registered an increase of 1.4% as compared to the previous year.
The distribution of employees by legal status of the enterprises showed that the employees in the commercial companies represented 80.0% of the number of employees at the end of the year, increasing by 1.4% as compared to the previous year.