To reach the annual income level of the NBM president, a teacher with a salary of 12.7 thousand lei per month would need about 16 years, and in the case of a vice-president or a counselor – about 7 years, if their declarations of income and personal interests for 2024 are to be believed.
Many educators, of course, achieve a higher income than the nominal salary of 12,700 lei, but only at the expense of overtime. This leads to overload, professional burnout and a decrease in the quality of teaching,” experts say.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Education and Science complains that high inflation has practically “eaten up” the latest increases in teachers’ salaries and that the “growth” is mainly statistical. The real incomes of teachers and auxiliary staff have grown by less than 2%.
Alternativa MP Angela Kutasevici, member of the Commission for Social Protection, Health and Family, said for Logos Press that the salary of a young specialist in practice is about 8,000-9,000 lei, depending on the teaching load, category and educational institution. This is the real level from which many graduates start working in education, and the gap with the average salary in the economy often demotivates them to stay in the profession.
“This is also where the serious shortage of staff comes from: 1,540 vacant teaching positions are announced for 2025-2026, and in 2025, only 28% of graduates trained under state contracts decided to go to work in education. A salary of 15,000 lei is certainly better than 12,700 lei, but it is still very modest considering the responsibility of teachers and real living expenses. But this level could be a starting point for a gradual increase of salaries in education to the average level of the economy,” the MP said.
According to Angela Kutasevich, to provide teachers with a decent standard of living, urgent and serious measures are needed.
“This is an increase in reference values, a calendar of phased salary increases and incentives for young professionals, including additional payments for work in rural areas. In the long term, it is important to improve working conditions in schools, reduce bureaucratic burdens, strengthen initial and continuing training and develop retention policies that will ensure the stability of the profession. After all, education determines the country’s development,” said Angela Kutasiewicz.
The authorities, represented by Education Minister Dan Perchun, have set a goal – to reach the level of average wages in education. However, they did not specify when it would happen.
The unions urge the government and parliament not to delay and as soon as possible to index the base value used in the calculation of salaries in the public sector by at least the level of the forecasted inflation. At a meeting with Finance Minister Andrian Gavrilice, they drew attention to the fact that the draft law on the state budget for 2026 envisages an increase of only one calculation value – from 2,200 to 2,400 lei – and only for a limited number of employees. At the same time, the estimated value of 2,500 lei, which is applied to the majority of budgetary employees (teachers, medical staff, employees of the Interior Ministry, penitentiary system and other institutions), is not adjusted, although by law it should be indexed annually at least by the inflation rate – its forecasted level for the current year is 6.8%. Without these changes, the gap between “stale bread” and “small diamonds” will only grow.
The unions are calling on the authorities to “conduct real and transparent consultation with the unions when developing the wage policy and the 2026 budget.” Such bold and demanding notes in their discourse sounded only at the end of the year. It is very strange if they really think that now, less than three weeks before the New Year, is the time to call for “real” and “transparent” consultation with the authorities.
