Wages and Labour Costs in Romania

Tracks the evolution of wages and labour costs in Romania, that is the pay received by employees (gross wages and salaries and, depending on the measure, employers' social contributions). Published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), it is a key reference for household income and cost-push inflation.

Compiled from labour cost or earnings structure surveys and administrative records, and usually expressed as a rate of change (typically year-on-year, YoY) and as an index against a base year.

Wages are both the main component of household income and a very large share of firms' costs, so their evolution is decisive for consumption and for the inflationary pressures watched by the National Bank of Romania (BNR). Rapid wage growth tends to raise concerns about pass-through to prices.

Definitions and coverage are not always harmonised across countries. The data are sensitive to the composition of employment and to seasonal factors, and are subject to revision.