The business environment in Romania can no longer bear, at this moment, a new increase in the minimum wage in the economy, the chairman of the National Council of Small and Medium-sized Private Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR), Florin Jianu, said on Monday, in Zalau, northwestern County of Salaj.
On Tuesday there will be a meeting of the Tripartite National Council, regarding the sectors of activity on which there will be collective negotiations regarding salaries and benefits in the future, and in this meeting, the unions will probably demand an increase in minimum wage from January 1, 2024, Jianu added, Agerpres reports.
"I don't think that at this moment anyone in the business environment can bear another increase. Of course we can discuss, maybe in the middle of next year. We will see how the economy and economic activity will develop in the next period. Yet, once again, we have always supported decent wages for people. (...) We should also look at labor taxation, the way this taxation is carried out, because if I do that, a simple calculation, for two RON paid, in fact, one RON reaches the people, one RON goes to the state, automatically, through fees and taxes. Or, having this very, very high taxation on the labor force does not actually help in reality. The costs are high for salaries and little money ends up to people and everyone is dissatisfied. The entrepreneur, too, because he pays those high costs for salaries, and the employee, as well. The one who benefits, always, is the state," Florin Jianu said.
He emphasized that a balance must be found, and the business environment should determine the state to become more professional, flexible, efficient and more focused on results.
CNIPMMR, nationally represented employers' confederation for SMEs, organized the "Entrepreneurship and Digitalization" event in Zalau on Monday, where the projects and public policies for supporting SMEs in the digital economy were debated, with the participation of representatives of local public authorities in Salaj, of CNIPMMR member employers and decentralized public services from the North-West region.