The retailer therefore raises the „entry threshold” by 10% over 2019, but the minimum wage is almost double compared with three years ago.
On an increasingly difficult labor market given the fierce competition among companies regardless of the sector – the hypermarket chain is the first in its sector to announce wage raises in 2020. This would make Kaufland the retailer to offer the highest minimum wage as of March, ZF has found. Kaufland has always competed with sister company Lidl, a discount retailer. The two are known to pay the highest wages in their sector. The latest data available for Lidl are from about a year ago, when it raised the gross minimum wage to RON3,500. It has not announced its wage plans for 2020 yet.
The average net wage has gone up by 130% in Romania over the past decade, while the retail minimum wage has gone up by an even higher rate. In comparison, the net minimum wage went up from RON450 in 2009 to RON1,346 in 2020, a 200% increase. Kaufland almost doubled wages in 2017-2020 from RON2,000 to RON3,650.
There are about 1.7 milion people or 30% of the total number of employees in Romania earning minimum wage.(EUR1=RON4.7790)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)