Employers warned on Friday that the government’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to 3,000 lei, of which 200 lei is tax-free, would increase the number of workers on the minimum wage, as they would earn more than workers who earn slightly higher. minimum wage. Employers fear that the blame will be shifted to employers, when in reality it will be the result of executive policy.

The confederation of Concordia employers on Friday reacted to the government’s statement on raising the minimum wage from January 1, 2023, published the day before.

Below is the reaction of the Confederation of Concordia Employers:

• “Yesterday, we continued discussions with the Government on the minimum wage and appreciate this openness to listen to the opinion of employers and take it into account, although our proposal has so far remained without a positive response after two rounds of negotiations.
• We see that companies are making efforts and want to raise wages, and we would like this increase of at least 450 lei to be not only at the level of the minimum wage, but more so that next year it goes entirely to the workers’ pockets and not to taxes and taxes.
• Therefore, we proposed to exempt all workers in Romania from paying social contributions from the first 450 lei of salary. In addition, we do not consider it productive that in Romania there are several types of minimum wages and all kinds of thresholds that only complicate the situation. As the Government’s proposal shows, this will squeeze the workforce around the minimum wage.
• I expect that next year we will be told that the number of people on the minimum wage has increased, and that this will be anti-employer rhetoric, when in fact it will be the result of the policies that we say will be there from now on.
• We understand the reasoning of the Government, who have told us that, according to the calculations, they cannot afford the measure we have proposed, but we reserve our view and hope that you will reflect over the next few days and reconsider the proposal without any additional thresholds. or conditions.
• From our point of view, this measure can be a boost for the budget to the extent that we will make additional efforts to fight those who circumvent the law and avoid paying social contributions at the appropriate level. In addition, companies should support wage increases now that they are facing extremely difficult conditions.” This was announced on Friday by Radu Burnete, the executive director of the Concordia Employers’ Confederation.

In other words, it draws attention to a an adverse phenomenon that HotNews.ro explained today: if the worker in the factory has a minimum gross salary of 3000 lei, then without taxation of 200 lei, he will reach a net salary of 1863 lei per month.

Well, if another worker in the same factory had a salary slightly higher than gross, say 3,100 lei, then the latter will take 1,830 lei net, i.e. below the one who has the minimum salary.

The solution for the employer will be either to increase the salary of the latter, or to bring it to the minimum wage (which will be a loss for the state from the point of view of tax collection).

This was announced by the government on Thursdaythat he would agree with employers and unions to raise the guaranteed minimum wage when paid from January 1, 2023, but the labor minister says the debate remains open on raising and taxing wages above the minimum. And representatives of employers’ associations say that they did not agree.

Adelina Dabu, head of public relations at the Confederation of Concordia Employers, who participated in the discussions at the Victoria Palace, told HotNews.ro that “a minimum salary of 3,000 lei without contributions of 200 lei will lead to a number of inequalities for the payment of people with amounts, close to the minimum wage, but who end up making significantly less money than those on the minimum wage.

The solution to avoid such situations is a much wider range of salaries (even across the salary scale) and should be as simple as possible, according to employers.