New pay legislation: over half of public sector workers set for salary increases

A major reform in Romania's public sector is set to transform the pay structure, with a direct impact on the incomes of hundreds of thousands of public employees. The new legislation, which forms part of the country's commitments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), promises to bring significant changes to the salary framework across the public administration.

According to estimates, approximately 52% of public sector employees will benefit from pay rises once the new salary grid is implemented. This measure is a response to the urgent need to modernise and rebalance the remuneration system in the budgetary sector, which has not undergone comprehensive reform for a number of years.

For those public employees who will not receive a pay rise, the authorities have given assurances that their incomes will not fall below current levels. This guarantee is intended to protect employees' purchasing power and to prevent any discontent that might arise from the introduction of the new system.

The financial impact of the reform is considerable, with total public sector wage expenditure expected to reach approximately 174 billion RON. This figure reflects the scale of the proposed changes and the need to allocate significant resources to the modernisation of the pay system.

The reform comes at a time when many areas of the public administration are struggling to attract and retain qualified staff. The new salary grid has the potential to improve the public sector's competitiveness in the labour market and to contribute to better delivery of public services for citizens, including the elderly population, who rely heavily on these services.