Education pays off in Romania: university degree ensures income almost 4 times bigger than primary school

For most university graduates, having a degree pays off in Romania. A recent official study shows that there is a direct link between Romanians’ education level and their income.

According to National Institute of Statistics (INS), Romanian households where the top earner is a university graduate have earned as much as RON 5,374 (EUR 1,176) per month last year, on average, compared with RON 2,949 (EUR 645) for the households where the top earner have secondary education and only RON 1,452 (EUR 318) for the households where the head has only primary education.

“The income analysis by households’ category according to the educational level of the household’s top earner highlights that there is a direct link between the education level of persons generating income and the level of income,” the report says.

Compared with 2016, income of tertiary education households rose by 15 percent, while income of lowest education households declined by 7 percent.

“In 2017, total income, monthly average per household, for the households where the top earner graduated tertiary education was 3.7 times higher than for households where the top earner in the household has completed only primary school education or is without graduated school, and 1.8 times higher than for households where the top earner in the household has completed secondary education,” according to the study.