Minimum wage
The gross national minimum wage is set by government decision; in 2026 the amount changes mid-year, and part of the income is exempt from tax and contributions under certain conditions.
The gross national minimum wage (salariul de bază minim brut pe țară) is the legal floor for a full-time salary, set by government decision. It matters well beyond the lowest-paid jobs: the personal deduction is measured as a percentage of it, the part-time contribution rules are anchored to it, and a slice of it is tax-exempt. In 2026 the figure does not stay still — it changes in the middle of the year.
Two figures in one year
For the first half of 2026 the gross minimum wage is 4.050 lei a month; from the first of July it rises to 4.325 lei for the rest of the year. Because so much of the payslip is pegged to this number, the same salary can produce a slightly different net before and after the mid-year change — which is why the calculator asks you to pick the period.
Each decision also states the figure per hour, alongside the average monthly hours it uses: 24,496 lei/hour for the first half of the year and 25,949 lei/hour from 1 July. Those hourly rates are not worked out here — they are printed in the decisions themselves, which is why they carry three decimals.
Both amounts are GROSS. What actually reaches a minimum-wage employee is smaller: for the standard case — main job, no dependants, over 26, no children enrolled in school — this site’s calculator puts the net at 2.574,75 lei a month in the first half of 2026 and 2.699,62 lei in the second. Those two nets are our own calculation, not an amount any authority publishes: no decision sets a net minimum wage, it follows from the gross. Dependants, age, children in school and the minimum-wage exemption all move it, and how the exemption interacts with the contribution base is still an open point.
| Period | Gross minimum wage | Exempt amount | Gross ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Jun 2026 | 4.050 lei | 300 lei | 4.300 lei |
| Jul–Dec 2026 | 4.325 lei | 200 lei | 4.600 lei |
The minimum-wage exemption
On top of setting the floor, the law shelters part of a minimum-wage salary from tax altogether. For the first half of 2026, 300 lei a month is exempt from income tax and from CAS and CASS; for the second half the exempt amount is 200 lei. The exemption comes with two conditions: the base salary in the contract has to equal the statutory minimum, and the total monthly gross must not exceed a ceiling — 4.300 lei in the first half of the year and 4.600 lei in the second. Meal and holiday vouchers are left out when the gross is tested against that ceiling. Where it applies, the exempt slice is removed from both the tax base and the contribution base, so it lifts the net by more than the tax alone.
Construction has its own floor. The building sector runs a higher, differentiated minimum wage set by a sector-level collective agreement rather than a government decision. The exact figure for 2026 sits behind a paywalled agreement text and is not confirmed here, so no construction-sector number is quoted. Note too that the old construction tax break was repealed from 2025 — construction workers get no special tax treatment in 2026 beyond this wage floor.
The full content for this page is still being written.