Before the publication of data on average salaries, Eurostat showed that in August 2026 Romania recorded the highest annual inflation rate in the EU, at 6.3% (compared with 8.2% in July), while in the second quarter of 2026 the country also had the lowest job vacancy rate, at 0.5%, with 26,500 positions available in total. During the same period, labor productivity declined in Romania: by 0.8% per employed person and by 1.2% per hour worked, the largest reduction in the EU at the level calculated based on actual hours worked.
Also among socioeconomic indicators, Eurostat reported a slight decrease in income inequality in the EU, while Romania was below the European average: the Gini coefficient fell from 28.0 to 27.3, remaining 1.9 points below the EU average. In parallel, separate data also pointed to a different trend in tourism: in 2025 Romania had the fewest tourist accommodation nights per inhabitant in the EU, 1.6 compared with an average of 7, while total overnight stays decreased by 1.7% compared with 2024.
