Average wage in February, 217 euros

The average net wage was 767 RON (217 euros at an exchange rate of 3.54 RON/EUR) in February, nearly 14% higher than a year ago, the data provided by the National Statistics Institute show. Compared with the previous month, the average net wage in the economy shed 7%, due to bonuses and other perks offered to employees in January. In February, those that felt their salary drop the most because of this were the budget-paid employees (public administration, education and health care), who got their 13th salary in January. In February, however, the average net salary of the budget-paid employees was almost 30% lower, amounting to 1,151 RON (325 euros) for the employees in the public administration and 876 RON (247 euros) for the education sector employees. Other employee categories to have seen a reduction in their salaries were those in the airline industry, who made nearly 12% less than in January on the average, that is 1,613 RON (456 euros). Also the employees in the petroleum industry got lower wages than in January by nearly 10%, that is 1,194 RON (337 euros). In comparison, the highest raise was registered by the employees in the tobacco industry, where the bonuses paid in February boosted the average net wage by over 30% to 2,116 RON (598 euros). The best-paid employees in the economy remained the bank employees, with an average net wage of 2,415 RON (682 euros), over 11% higher than in January. After all, bank employees also got bonuses in February, as did the employees of insurance companies. Worst paid employees in the entire economy were the people working in the wood processing industry, 473 RON (134 euros), clothing industry (485 RON) and leather industry (486 RON). ZF