Tax exempting the minimum wage could be a solution for keeping the workforce in the country, and such measure will start on January 1, 2022 in a private sector, which could be the hospitality industry, Minister of the Economy Claudiu Nasui told a news conference on Wednesday.

"The labour shortage has been an old problem of Romania, before the pandemic. Romanians work, they are hardworking, but they just leave Romania, they don't work in Romania. They don't do it for lack of patriotism; they send money back to the country. They save money and invest, build a house in Romania, start up in business back in Romania, but the actual work is not done in Romania. And we should ask ourselves some questions: Why? Is it because we are poor and others are richer? Yes, that's part of the answer. There were 45 years of communism, it could not but leave deep scars. But there are other countries in Eastern Europe that had 45 years of communism, maybe not as brutal as ours. But we have to ask ourselves some questions. What do we do differently from the others? And here is this solution of tax exempting the minimum wage. That is a tax shield on the minimum wage. The minimum wage is already low, let's leave it to the earners (...) Zero taxes on the minimum wage is a measure of the government agenda that starts on January 1, 2022 in a private sector, a sector that has not yet been elected, but which, I will not hide from you, could very well be the hospitality industry, for several reasons," explained Nasui.

He pointed out that it is not about social assistance, it is not a social policy, but a fiscal policy that would have extraordinary social effects, alleviate poverty, encourage work, activate the workforce, keep people in Romania.

He added that there is also the option of not applying this measure in the hospitality sector, but the option of freezing the minimum gross wage and implementing tax-free parts was also taken into account. AGERPRES (RO - author: Nicoleta Gherasi, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)