In Germany, only 28% of the programmers cost less than $20 per hour, while in Poland the percentage is 40%, according to InvestRomania, the governmental institution in charge of promoting foreign investment.
“The skilled IT workforce in Romania is cheaper than in other countries, because the cost living is lower (…). Cost was not necessarily the advantage that made large companies decide to invest because there are large IT companies paying as much as EUR3,000 ($3,200) per month for programmers they employ,” explained Razvan Rada, general manager with Head Hunting IT, a company specializing in recruitment of candidates for the IT services industry.
In France for instance, 66% of the programmers earn more than $20 per hour, and most of them (23% out of 66%) earn more than $50 per hour, which means employers incur at least $8,000 per month in costs to pay them, InvestRomania says, citing Yalantis software company data.
On the other hand, only 3% of programmers make more than $50 per hour in Romania, compared with more than 29% in Sweden.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)