BestJobs survey: One employee in four hardly makes ends meet from what he/she earns

Over a quarter of the employees admit that the money from their salary is not enough one month to another, therefore, not only do they fail to save anything, they also have to borrow more than ever from family or friends until the next salary to make ends meet, shows data from a survey conducted by an online recruitment platform. 

Another 27 percent of the respondents also find themselves in a situation of not having money until the salary and having to borrow, which only applies sometimes to 26 percent of respondents, while half of the respondents earn less than 2,500 lei net per month, almost a quarter have a salary of up to 3,500 lei net per month, and the rest exceed this level. 

Almost 37 percent of the respondents say they have the same financial situation as last year, while 32 percent of the respondents say that their financial situation has worsened during the last 12 months, and 10 percent even say that they had a major decline. Only 20.7 percent saw an improvement in the financial situation in the last year. 

Therefore, three out of ten respondents say that over 45 percent of the monthly salary usually goes to pay debts. Another 25 percent claim that they pay between 25 percent and 45 percent of their salary to cover all their debts, and a third of the respondents pay at most a quarter of the salary in this regard. And although only 12 percent say they do not have debts to pay, not everyone manages to put money aside from one month to the next, while those who do say that the monthly savings are very small. Specifically, almost half of the respondents do not set aside one leu, one third saves less than 10 percent of what they earn monthly and only 11 percent of the respondents say they manage to save a little more, up to a quarter of their salary. 

In order to fit in the money they earn on a monthly basis, Romanians cut most of the travel budget (64 percent of the respondents), clothes (57.6 percent of the respondents), from that of relaxation at the theater, film, concerts etc. (47.8 percent of the respondents). 

Moreover, almost half (47 percent of the respondents) cut back on eating out. At the same time, spending is cut on sports (17.2 percent), food (13.5 percent), health (12.7 percent), transport (8.9 percent), education - books, studies, etc. (7.20 percent), utilities (gas, electricity, water, heat) - 4.61 percent. 

Despite financial concerns or problems, Romanians cannot or will not give up certain categories of expenses, such as the telephone subscription (66 percent of the respondents), the Internet subscription (58.2 percent), the cable subscription (41.8 percent), personal car (23.1 percent), cigarettes (15.8 percent), travels (15 percent), sports (11.2 percent), clothes (10.9 percent), relaxation (8.07 percent). The survey was conducted between July 15 and August 5, 2019, on a sample of 922 Internet users.