As foreign investors enter the market or expand their businesses there, they will raise the salary level of the employees, believes Iulian Sorescu, partner and leader of the financial department of law firm Noerr Finance & Tax, one of the most active state aid consultancies.
“The automotive and the IT (outsourcing included) industries are still doing very well in Romania in terms of investment. The centers in Cluj and Iasi are going strong and a ten-year strategy to grow Romania into a technology hub would be really good,” Iulian Sorescu explains.
“If the trend of foreign companies coming and expanding continues, I think students will start to seriously consider jobs in Romania because they will see they have more disposable income than abroad.”
Although Romania has some of the lowest salaries in the EU, IT and the outsourcing sector are paying EUR500 to EUR600 and even more to the young people at their first job, according to market information. Moreover, the industries hired tens of thousands of young people during the crisis.
The law firm Sorescu represents, Noerr, has assisted a number of companies with their entry or expansion in Romania, especially those in the manufacturing industry, over the years. This year it had two customers that secured state aid – Sonaca Aerospace and EKR Elektrokontakt. The two got 63.5 million lei (EUR14.3 million) to create almost 1,000 jobs in the aeronautics and automotive component manufacturing business.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)