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Salaries and public-sector staff

A gradual adjustment of public-sector staff, on the model of 2010

An independent 96-page study, which also synthesises the World Bank's recommendations, proposes a gradual reform of the number of public-sector employees and the removal of distortions in the granting of pay supplements, especially in local government.

Academic researchSteluța Enache (independent researcher)· 2024Rejected

Public-sector headcount at its 15-year high

Public-sector employees, October 2024

1.3m

Year 2024 · source[1]

The first time since 2009 that the number exceeds 1.3 million; the state remains the largest employer in the economy.

For comparison, the whole of Romania's manufacturing industry (the largest private employer) had, in 2023, 984,581 employees, at 58,780 employers, with a turnover equal to 34.7% of GDP[1].

What the study proposes

  • Any adjustment of staff numbers should be gradual and predictable, on the model of 2010, when only one employee was hired for every 7 who left the system (retirement)[1]
  • Removing the distortions in the granting of pay supplements in local public administration, the second-largest public employer after education, where the way supplements are applied leads to inequities[1]
  • Clarifying the 1-to-12 ratio between the lowest and the highest base salary in the public sector, set by law but hard to verify in practice because of separately granted supplements[1]

Sources

Primary official sources; where we use the press (only when the official document is not public) we mark it. The links lead to the original document or to the report cited (titles are translated; the documents themselves are in Romanian unless stated).

  1. [1]

    Steluța Enache (independent researcher, economic analysis) — Public-sector pay in Romania. Reforms amid high expectations. (in Romanian) (independent study, published via edupedu.ro; it also summarises data from a World Bank study on public-sector pay)

    Published 10 December 2024 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)

  2. [2]

    Pressedupedu.ro and economedia.ro — The Unified Pay Law was not adopted by the NRRP deadline of 31 August 2026 (in Romanian) (independently confirmed by several press reports (edupedu.ro, economedia.ro, monitorulbt.ro, business24.ro) with the same essential facts: the 31 August 2026 deadline, the €770 million from the NRRP, the lack of PSD-PNL-USR-UDMR consensus)

    Published 31 August 2026 · Accessed 15 October 2026 · the original document(opens in a new tab)