The average net salary should be EUR1,500 per month, as the GDP per capita in Bucharest is 136% of the EU average and productivity of employees is similar to or even higher than in Warsaw, Poland, Andrei Caramitru says.
“One thing that shocks me in Romania is the average salaries paid in Bucharest. In Bucharest, we are at 130% of the average GDP per capita in the EU. How can salaries continue to be half or even one quarter of that including in multinationals? Productivity is at least as high as in Warsaw, if not higher, yet salaries are lower,” Andrei Caramitru said on ZF Live.
Average net wage in Romania stood at more than 2,300 lei (EUR511) in December 2016 and an employee in Bucharest earned RON2,800 (EUR622) in net amount per month, according to the National Statistics Institute.
Andrei Caramitru, however, says that many multinationals see Romania as a poor country and drastically adjust the salaries offered.
“The problem is that all major companies size their business as if dealing with a poor country. The price of products, telecommunications services and taxi fares are the lowest in Europe. If one has the lowest prices, one can’t pay higher salaries. One must size one’s business thinking one is in a city above the European average. If one cannot pay one’s employees more than EUR1,000 per month, that means one has trouble being a good businessman.”
Caramitru says that there is a lack of prospects for the people in multinationals because of this, because salaries are capped in Bucharest.
“Very many Romanians aged 35 to 40 with a lot of potential, leave multinationals in Romania to go abroad, it’s a new trend I’ve been seeing. They would like to return, but cannot find employment to meet their standards. The same multinational pays that person five times more at its head office in London or Germany than it does in Romania. That person accumulates experience for two years there, but wants to come back home on a pay that is comparable to what they already get. They may agree to 20% to 30% less but not to one fourth or one fifth of what they have. But the HR comes and says ‘This is how much we pay for such positions, we won’t change that’ for people who have proven they are talented, they are capable.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)