The average gross monthly wage in the national economy in 2020 was 5213 lei, 7.4% higher than in the previous year, and the average net monthly wage was 3217 lei, up 7.7% (+231 lei) compared to the previous year, data published today by the National Institute of Statistics show. Employers spent on average 5409 lei/employee per month, 6.2% more than last year. The number of employees, as of 31 December 2020, was 5.41 million, down by 70,000 compared to the end of the previous year. The number of employees fell sharply in Manufacturing, Hotels and restaurants and Trade. The number of employees increased in Construction, Health and Information and Telecom.
The highest average net monthly earnings in 2020, above the economy-wide average, were in the following economic activities: information and communication (+92.4%), financial intermediation and insurance (+65.2%), public administration (+62.0%), supply and production of electricity, gas, heat, hot water and air conditioning (+50.2%), mining and quarrying (+41.5%), construction and quarrying (+41.5%), professional activities, Scientific and technical activities (+28.8%), Health and social work (+24.4%) and Education (+11.1%).
Average monthly net earnings that were farthest below the economy-wide average corresponded to the following economic activities: Hotels and restaurants (-45.2%), other services activities (-37.1%), Agriculture, forestry and fishing (-25.0%), administrative and support service activities (-23.6%), real estate activities (-21.5%), wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-18.9%), water supply, sewerage, waste management, remediation activities (-17.7%), entertainment, cultural and recreational activities (-15.4%), manufacturing (-14.3%), transportation and storage (-9.6%) and construction (-4.7%).
For the year 2020, the real earnings index (expressed as the ratio of the net nominal earnings index to the consumer price index of the population) was 225.0% compared to the year 1990, higher by 10.7 percentage points compared to the previous year, by 94.7 percentage points percentage points compared with 2008, respectively.
Female employees earned on average 1.2% less in gross terms than male employees, with average gross monthly earnings of 5179 lei (compared to 5244 lei for male employees). In net terms, female employees earned 4.2%, i.e. 139 lei less per month than male employees (3144 lei average net earnings for female employees compared to 3283 lei for male employees).
Male employees had higher average monthly net earnings than female employees in most activities the largest differences (more than 17.0%) were found in financial intermediation and insurance (37.9%), information and communication (25.9%), other service activities (25.6%), manufacturing (25.2%) and wholesale and retail trade; repair and maintenance (25.2%), motor vehicles and motorcycles (17.2%).
Counties with highest salaries
In territorial profile, by counties, average monthly net earnings in 2020 were below the economy-wide average in 37 of the counties.
The lowest average monthly net earnings were recorded in Harghita county (2483 lei, 22.8% less than the economy average), Bistrita-Năsăud (2538 lei, 21.1% less than the economy average), Teleorman (2539 lei, 21.1% less than the economy average), Bistrița-Năsăud (2538 lei, 21.1% less than the economy average), Teleorman (2539 lei, 21.1% less than the economy average), Vrancea (2561 lei, 20.4% less than the economy average) and Covasna (2579 lei, 19.8% less than the economy average). The highest average monthly net earnings were recorded in Bucharest (4408 lei, 37.0% above the economy average), Cluj (3744 lei, 16.4% above the economy average), Timiș (3536 lei, 9.9% above the economy average) and Varnas (3536 lei, 9.9% above the economy average), Ilfov (3348 lei, 4.1% above the economy average) and Iași (3327 lei, 3.4% above the economy average).
The economy lost 70,000 employees in the year of the pandemic. In which areas were new jobs created
The number of employees at the end of 2020 was 5.41 million. Compared to the end of the previous year, the number of employees decreased by 70,000, in the context of the situation created by the COVID19 pandemic and the reduction or cessation of activity of a significant number of economic and social units.
The breakdown of employees by economic sector shows that the majority were in the tertiary sector (63.3%) (business services 42.9% and social services 20.4%). The secondary sector (industry and construction) accounted for 34.3% of employees and the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fish farming) for only 2.4%.
Construction and mining and quarrying activities were predominantly carried out by male employees and accounted for 87.4%, respectively 84.8% of all employees in these economic activities.
The most attractive activities for female employees were health and social work (79.5% of the total number of employees in these activities), education (73.2%), financial intermediation and insurance (70.4%) and hotels and restaurants (60.5%).
Compared to the previous year, significant decreases in the average number of employees were recorded in manufacturing industry (-76.8
thousand persons), hotels and restaurants (-17.4 thousand persons), wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
(-16.1 thousand persons), transport and storage (-13.8 thousand persons), administrative and support service activities (-7.1 thousand persons), professional, scientific and technical activities (-4.7 thousand persons), entertainment, cultural and recreational activities (-4.5 thousand persons) and other service activities (-3.6 thousand persons).
At the other end of the scale, with increases in the average number of employees, were construction (+11.5 thousand people), health and social work (+8.8 thousand people) and information and communication (+6.1 thousand people).
Edited for English