Minimum wage to rise from January 1, 2025 to 4.050 lei
Articol de Cătălin Purcaru, 16 Octombrie 2024, 22:59
The minimum wage will increase from January 1, 2025 to 4.050 lei from 3.700 lei as it is today, agreed in the National Tripartite Committee of government, trade union and employers' representatives.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in an internet post that this is the way to follow the European minimum wage, referring to the project to establish a mechanism to ensure an adequate minimum wage in line with the European directive.
The President of the National Trade Union Bloc, Dumitru Costin, was only partially satisfied with the outcome of today's meeting, referring to the fact that the minimum wage would cover only 74% of the average national wage, according to the calculation method under discussion.
Dumitru Costin: This increase is not enough, it's a step forward. Recently, the Senate voted an amendment to the draft law approved by the government that assumed a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 52, a negotiating range for the government, employers and unions. The business environment had political support even from the governing coalition because we found ourselves in the debate in committee that the minimum 50 maximum 52 was changed to minimum 47. In the coming days the debates and the final vote on the law in the Chamber of Deputies will follow.
The increase of the minimum wage to 4.050 lei from January 1 means that companies have to allocate an extra 350 lei for each employee, which represents a significant financial effort for small companies, said the secretary general of the national council of SMEs Sterica Fudulea.
Sterica Fudulea: It should not have increased because it is already the second increase in six months, we are already talking about an increase of another 12% compared to the mid-year increase of 11%. However, we have proposed that the 300 lei facility should remain within this increase in the minimum wage.
The government and the social partners have also agreed today to maintain the facility to exempt from tax and social security contributions the amount of 300 lei of the gross national minimum wage guaranteed in payment.
Translated by: Radu Matei
