The average net salary in Romania's IT sector reached RON 8,000 (approximately €1,600) in the first half of 2026, a roughly 5% increase on last year. On paper, the sector remains the undisputed champion of the Romanian jobs market. In practice, the story is more complicated: IT candidates are asking for an average of RON 11,993 net, 50% above what employers are offering, and June inflation of 10.4% has eaten away almost all of those nominal gains.

The data come from an eJobs analysis covering the first half of 2026 and confirm a pattern many workers had already been sensing: headlines about "highest salaries in the economy" no longer tell the whole story. Roxana Drăghici, Head of Sales at eJobs, puts it plainly: "Even though in most sectors we are talking about pay rises compared with last year, in real terms employees' purchasing power has fallen, including in the sectors where salaries grew the most, because the increases were, in most cases, barely half the rate of inflation."

Who pays best in Romania at mid-2026

The top of the pay table continues to be dominated by technical and resource-heavy industries. IT leads with an average of RON 8,000 net, followed by oil and gas at RON 7,000, research and development at RON 6,800, and construction and installation at RON 6,500. Engineering, telecoms, audit and consulting, and the naval and aeronautical industries all cluster around RON 6,000 net.

At the other end, the economy-wide average reached RON 5,684 net in May, only 3.2% above May 2025, the smallest nominal annual increase recorded in recent years. Retail sits at RON 4,300, the food industry at RON 4,500, call centres and BPO at RON 4,400, transport and logistics at RON 5,000, and general services at RON 5,500. Beauty salons and medical clinics stop at RON 4,000, while the lowest-paid category remains au pair, babysitting, and cleaning roles at RON 3,300 net per month.

One figure that reframes all the others: real economy-wide wage growth was effectively negative. When inflation runs at 10.4% and nominal net growth is just 3.2%, an employee who "received a pay rise" is actually buying less than they could a year ago with the same salary slip.

The offer-expectation gap: where it is widest

On average, Romanian candidates are asking for 30% more than they receive. But the gap is not evenly spread. IT sits at the top with a 50% spread: employers offer RON 8,000 while candidates ask for RON 11,993. Insurance follows at 42%, with automotive, legal, and banking all around 40%.

In oil and gas, expectations exceed offers by 29%, candidates ask for RON 9,000 against a market offering of RON 7,000. At the other end, where negotiation is almost aligned with market reality, alternative medicine shows a gap of just 14%, plumbing and sanitary installation 20%, and customer relations 25%.

A second important signal: the sectors with the most job vacancies are precisely those with the lowest salaries. Since the start of the year, retail has posted 27,000 advertisements, services 17,000, the food industry 14,000, and call centres and BPO 12,000. Drăghici explains why their averages stay low: "The majority of jobs in these industries are entry-level, and salaries at that career stage pull the sector average down. These are industries where young people typically start their careers, but also where candidates aged 45 to 50 and above can more easily find a position."

For employees: what these figures mean for you

If you work in IT or another "well-paid" sector, the first practical observation is that the relevant indicator is no longer the nominal salary, it is purchasing power. A net salary of RON 8,000 in 2026 does not carry the same weight as RON 8,000 in 2025, even if the number on your payslip looks the same or slightly higher. When you discuss a pay rise, the healthy reference point is "my real salary, adjusted for inflation", not "my previous net salary."

The second observation: the 50% gap in IT does not mean that anyone who asks for RON 12,000 receives RON 12,000. It means the market has a wide spread, and where you land within it depends on your role, seniority, technology stack, and how well you document the concrete value you deliver. When you walk into a salary conversation, the benchmark for your specific role and city matters more than the industry-wide average.

The third observation, for those eyeing the "entry" sectors with plentiful vacancies: retail, services, the food industry, and call centres carry low average salaries, but they frequently offer a first stable employment contract for young workers and a career reset for people over 45. It is worth evaluating the full job, not just the number, schedule, transport allowance, benefits, and genuine prospects for internal progression all count.

If you are in IT and feeling the pressure from the layoffs and hiring freezes that have been written about more frequently in recent months, a few practical steps: check the benchmark for your exact role (not just "IT in general"), document concrete deliverables from the past six to twelve months, and prepare a plan B, no matter how secure your current position feels. An up-to-date CV and a shortlist of companies you would consider are not signs of disloyalty, they are professional hygiene.

For HR teams and recruiters: what the market is really signalling

For recruitment teams, the half-year data shift the conversation away from "are we aligned with the market?" toward a harder question: the real market has decoupled from the nominal market. An offer that rises by 5–6% looks competitive until the candidate compares it with 10.4% inflation and realises that, in real terms, their salary is falling. That creates a retention pressure that small increments can no longer resolve.

The expectations gap is the second strategic signal. In IT, insurance, automotive, legal, and banking, candidates arrive at the table with figures that exceed your budget by 40–50%. For a recruiter, the options are not simply "accept or decline", they are "what combination of total compensation, flexibility, development, and predictability closes the gap?" Performance bonuses with indexation, meal vouchers (tichete de masă), premium private health insurance, a learning and development budget, and an explicit hybrid-work arrangement all enter the equation as partial substitutes for cash.

The third point is about segmentation. Sectors with a narrow gap, alternative medicine at 14%, plumbing and sanitary installation at 20%, customer relations at 25%, suggest that candidates in those fields have calibrated their expectations close to market reality. There, competition shifts elsewhere: speed of the recruitment process, onboarding quality, and employer brand visibility on review platforms. A narrow salary gap does not mean recruiting is easy, it simply means salary is no longer the differentiator.

For teams hiring at volume in retail, services, the food industry, and BPO, more than 70,000 job advertisements posted since January across just these four sectors, the market is one in which candidates have genuine options. Retention among entry-level workers and among those aged 45 and above becomes the indicator worth tracking monthly, not just at half-year reviews.

What to watch in the second half of the year

Three indicators are worth tracking through to the end of 2026: how the ratio between nominal wage growth and inflation evolves; whether IT resumes hiring or enters a deeper correction; and how the expectations gap behaves in sectors with a chronic shortage of workers, such as construction and HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, and catering).

The first half of 2026 made one thing clear: the era when "we gave a pay rise" closed the conversation is over. Employees are looking at purchasing power; HR is looking at total retention cost. Both perspectives need the same data, read honestly, to reach an agreement that lasts longer than one review cycle.