Employers' Association supports launch of a public dialogue for consensus regarding miniumum wage in private sector

Employers' Association of Romania (AOAR) supports the launch of a public dialogue through which the employers and the trade unions' associations reach a consensus concerning the establishment or the elimination of the minimum wage in the private sector, according to a press release, sent on Monday to AGERPRES.

"We find it objective the initiative of (Finance, ed. n.) Minister Teodorovici concerning the importance to establish or not a minimum wage in the private sector, given the realities of the economic structure and the differences in productivity among various sectors. In the context of external wage differences among various regions of the country, eliminating the minimum wage could be a factor that will stimulate the creation of jobs in less attractive areas, especially due to the lack of infrastructure," it is mentioned in the press release. 

On the sidelines of analysis and discussions concerning the removal or keeping of the mandatory minimum wage in the private sector, AOAR proposes the assessment of the possibility to adopting a minimum hourly wage, and not monthly "which would correspond to the reality of an economy marked by variations in demands on the internal and international market." 

AOAR says that the specialization and developing services that ensure an added value can be stimulated through applying it legally, and not through mathematical calculations (monthly wage divided by 160 hours) of the minimum hourly wage, thus allowing a normal flexibility of the workforce costs and an increase in companies' competitiveness. 

Also, AOAR requests the Government "to understand the difficulties the business environment is facing, as a result of the governmental decisions, too, which make the reality of the Romanian workforce to be unfavorable to the durable growth of the Romanian economy." 

The Public Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici declared on Friday, for DCNews website that it is not normal that state companies enjoy higher wages than the private sector, given that the public employees have a special status which the employees in the private sector do not benefit from. He said, in the context, that the approach needs to be changed even as concerns the the minimum wage that should not be imposed at the economy's level, but only within the administration.