What jobs do the best-paid Romanians have: “I'm at work from Monday to Friday and I work 13-15 hours a day”

Many Romanians claim that they have reached considerable monthly incomes after years of work, but their jobs deprive them of free time and give them a high and continuous stress level. The highest salaries are often earned in IT, medicine and engineering.

IT is among the fields that offer high salaries. Source: Freepik.com

In Romania, more than 830,000 employees receive the minimum gross salary for the economy, the Ministry of Labor recently showed, announcing the draft decision aimed at increasing the minimum gross salary per month from 4,050 lei to 4,325 lei, starting on July 1, 2026.

“In Romania, currently, a number of 831,382 employees benefit from the gross minimum basic salary guaranteed in payment, which represents a percentage of 14.6 percent of the total number of active employees. A number of 1,759,027 employees will benefit from the increase in the gross minimum basic salary per country guaranteed in payment to 4,325 lei. At the same time, the proposed increase will have positive effects on economic growth, through stimulating employment, increasing the purchasing power of employees and reducing undeclared work”, informed the representatives of the ministry, in December 2025.

However, many Romanians claim that they have come a long way from having the worries of those with the lowest incomes. They chose difficult jobs that bring them enviable salaries. Many of them responded to the challenge launched on an online platform to tell about the fields in which they work and what they do to benefit from salaries well above the usual ones in Romania.

Navigator, for 80,000 euros per year

A Romanian claims that he earns more than 80,000 euros annually, working as a navigator, with the position of second engineer officer.

However, he has been working for 14 years and sees in his job both the sacrifices he has made and the fact that it would be difficult for him to return to a lower-paid job “on land”, but also the good side: the monthly salary of over 5,000 euros and almost six months in which he is free. He says that he has logistics duties and maintenance and operation of the installations on the vessels.

“As a work environment, it's like working in a big factory. On top of that, the 'factory' is moving at every turn, it's hot, it's noisy, you have limited people and resources, and you live fully at work for 3-4 months. You start at the bottom (cadet) for a year, then cart officer, then captain / engineer I and finally commander / chief engineer. The average of promotions is somewhere around 2–3 years for the junior boarding period and 4–5 years for the seniors (captain, chief engineer)”he says, on the Reddit platform.

He added that he personally contributes money for his pension, and his health insurance is supported by his employer.

Over $10,000 monthly salary in IT

Another Romanian claims that he works as a manager in a big tech company (global technology companies), being responsible, to a certain extent, for approximately 130 people, and his basic salary is 54,500 lei. Added to this are bonuses of hundreds of dollars and various facilities.

“As benefits, there are a few more: fairly extensive health insurance (with certain services also included on dentistry / ophthalmology / psychological counseling / IVF), which also covers the immediate family; additional days of leave for well-being / family care / personal development; flexible schedule; a lot of training in various areas; life insurance; extended paternity leave; discounts for sports activities”, write this one down.

He reached this salary after 21 years of experience, of which 19 years were spent in various positions in the company where he is employed. The Romanian claims that he works with other Romanians as well as with Americans, Indians and British.

“In total, I work about 60-70 hours a week, but I don't work constantly; instead, I answer e-mails pretty much any time of the day if I'm awake, and I occasionally connect to calls at more 'exotic' hours. I also answer e-mails from vacation; I recently went on paternity leave for four months, but I still work, on average, 3-4 hours a day. I fly to the States about once a month, for a few times a year in India”he says.

The IT guy adds that he is working under pressure, especially due to investments in artificial intelligence (AI) functionality, and the frustrations and stress are felt by the whole team.

The man also says that he chose his job because it is well-paid and he started working here in his first year of college, after in high school he made websites in WordPress for various companies in his hometown.

Good salaries, demanding jobs

Many Romanians say they work in the IT field and earn high incomes, from 7,000 to over 15,000 lei. In some cases, this income means demanding work and little free time. Some recent studies show that, for more and more Romanian employees, the state of well-being is fragile, marked by exhaustion, constant pressure and lack of equity, and the risk of burnout remains high, especially in IT and public administration.

One in four employees was in an area of ​​psychological risk and burnout, while only 30 percent truly indicated a state of high satisfaction, characterized by healthy relationships, autonomy, clarity and perception of fairness at work, according to the Index of the well-being of Romanian employees, carried out by RoCoach and Novel Research on a national sample of 1,000 employees from the urban environment.

A Romanian writes that he reached a monthly salary of 3,500 euros. He works in Germany as a truck driver, but he doesn't seem to get enough money for his work.

“I'm at work Monday through Friday and I work 13-15 hours a day. Lucky I don't work on Saturdays either,” he states.

Another Romanian claims that he receives a salary of 7,500 lei, with meal vouchers, and benefits from his thirteenth salary, working as a marketing manager.

“I got here through promotion, but I have a lot of responsibility. I can replace any colleague from another position (minus accounting). Honestly, I would give up part of the money for something more relaxed. When I get home, I am the head of the calendar; I am the “mother of the injured” for everyone in the company. What keeps me in the company: it is close to home and I have weekends off, except for about eight annual weekend events, for which I do not get anything extra, not even time off.” supports it.

A Romanian says that he is an electronics engineer in Bucharest, with less than two years of experience, and has a net salary of 9,200 lei, along with meal vouchers, medical insurance and other benefits. Another Romanian boasts a salary of 10,500 lei as a design engineer.

Another says he earns almost €10,000 practicing as a dentist in France. He has been working there since 2023 and says he has a lot of patients and a high workload. Other Romanians state that they work as doctors in Romania, and their salaries generally start at 10,000 lei.

“I am a specialist doctor, in the province. I earn about 12,000 lei per month, including guards. I have a working time of at least 240 hours per month and a stationary time at work of 31 hours in the weekend guard, at least five times a month. I have 11 years of experience”, someone else adds.

Another doctor claims that he works 12 hours a day, and on average even 14, if you include the guards, in a special medical field. However, his income is high.

“State + private (CM + PFI/SRL), after taxes, about 12,000 euros remain per month. Like me, that is, people who know how to do what I do in Romania, there are, let's say, about 30”he thinks.