Romanian women earn monthly about RON 200 less than men

Women earned an average of RON 178 less than men in monthly wages in 2014, according to data released by the National Institute for Statistics. Women’s gross salaries averaged at RON 2,234 (compared to RON 2,412 for men) and net earnings reached an average of RON 1,627 (compared to RON 1,761 for men).

Men are allocated higher net monthly earnings of women in most economic activities, data show, with the biggest differences (over 25 percent) found in financial intermediation and insurance (41.3 percent), other services (27.8 percent) and manufacturing (27.6 percent).

The average monthly gross earnings per total economy achieved in 2014 (RON 2,328) were 7.6 percent (RON 165) higher than in 2013. The average net monthly earnings (RON 1,697) registered a growth of 7.5 percent (RON 118) compared to the previous year.

The highest values in net earnings were registered in financial intermediation and insurance (2.2 times higher than the economy average), information and communication (97.8 percent above average), quarrying industry (92.1 percent), production and supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (82.3 percent) and public administration (62.3 percent).

At the opposite end, industries registering values below the economy average were hotels and restaurants (-43.5 percent), other services (-32.8 percent), construction (-26 9 percent), entertainment and recreation (-26.4 percent), administrative services and support services (-25.7 percent), agriculture, forestry and fishing (-25.2 percent), real estate (-20.8 percent), trade (-16.8 percent), health and social assistance (-11.8 percent), water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-11.1 percent) and manufacturing (-7 percent).

In 2014, the real earning index (expressed as the ratio between the net nominal earning index and consumer price index of the population) was 131.2 percent higher compared to 1990, 7.8 percentage points over the previous year or 0.9 percentage points above 2008.

Territorially, the average monthly net earnings in 2014 was below the average of the economy in 36 counties. The lowest level, namely RON 1,251 was recorded in Harghita, 26.3 percent less than the average. Conversely, net salary in Bucharest (RON 2,441) stood 43.8 percent above average.

The average monthly cost of the labor force in 2014 was RON 2,988 per employee, an increase of 6.2 percent over the previous year.

Compared to the average in the economy, average monthly cost was significantly higher in the activities: mining and quarrying (2.3 times over), financial intermediation and insurance (2.2 times), information and communications (+ 90.1 percent), production and supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (+ 86.2 percent), professional, scientific and technical activities (+ 42.4 percent) and public administration (+ 31.4 percent).

Below economy average stood salaries from activities of hotels and restaurants (-44.7 percent), other services (-33.0 percent), construction (-27.0 percent), activities of administrative services and support services (-26.3 percent), entertainment activities, entertainment and recreation (-26.2 percent).

In 2014, the average number of employees was 4.5 million people, up by about 64,100 people above the previous year. Men had a slightly higher share of employment than women (2,375,400 persons, representing 52.7 percent of the total number of employees). Over the previous year, the average number of employees increased by 16,000 men and by 48,100 women.

Distribution of employees by economic sectors shows that 61.1 percent of people worked in the tertiary sector (commercial and social services), 36.5 percent in the secondary sector (industry and constructions) and 2.4 percent in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fishery).

Construction and mining activities are carried out mostly by men, representing 86.6 percent and 83.8 percent of all employees. Activities characterized by pronounced degree of “feminization” of the labor force are the health and social assistance (79.8 percent of total employees in the branch), education (70.5 percent), financial intermediation and insurance (69.4 percent) and hotels and restaurants (61.5 percent).

The regions where the primary sector activities in the country exceed the average share were: South-Muntenia (4 percent), Southeast (3.5 percent), Northeast (3.2 percent), West (2.7 percent) and South-West Oltenia (2.4 percent).

Regions that concentrate a significant proportion of employees in industry and construction were: Western (45.5 percent), Central (42.7 percent), North-West (41.0 percent), South-Muntenia (40.6 percent), Oltenia Southwest (37.8 percent), Southeast (36.3 percent), versus 36.2 percent national average.

The largest share of employees in the commercial services can be found in Bucharest-Ilfov region (60.7 percent versus 41.5 percent in the total economy) and the social services sector the highest share was recorded in the North-East (27.5 percent versus 20.0 percent national average).

At the end of 2014 the number of employees in companies with private capital made up the majority (74.1 percent) and increased by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year.

The distribution of employees by legal enterprises showed that those employed in companies accounted for 78.1 percent of the total number of employees increasing by 2.4 percent over the previous year.

Natalia Martian

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