Minimum wage in Vietnam is EUR150 per month, 3.5 times lower than the minimum wage a Vietnamese working in Romania earns.
“We have 375 Vietnamese employees now and are ready to add more if necessary. Although employees from other EU and non-EU countries work on our site, they are not direct employees of Vard Tulcea, but of the subcontracting companies and third parties,” said Ivan Firsa, vice president of the HR department of the Vard Tulcea shipyard, the largest employer in the Tulcea County, which had 2,500 employees in 2016.
The Romanian authorities issued more than 4,900 work permits for foreign citizens from outside the EU in 2017, significantly more than in 2016, when they issued about 2,900. While Vietnamese accounted for merely 8% of the number of non-EU foreigners coming to work in Romania in 2016, last year they accounted for 29%.
“A Romanian employer is required to pay about 2,400 lei (EUR533) net wage, in addition to social security tax, one or two meals a day and accommodation for a Vietnamese employee. Total costs amount to about EUR1,400 to EUR1,500 per month for a Vietnamese employee, adding the net wage, social security taxes, meals and accommodation,” said Elena Antoneac, head of operations with Nestlers Group, which provides immigration and global mobility services.
Experts say the ‘import’ of Vietnamese has gone up especially at construction companies, a sector that has seen significant growth in the past few years.
“Whereas employers in the construction business would choose Chinese workers to offset their shortage of labor until five years ago, the rise in wages in China has made the market look elsewhere so the Vietnamese are in great demand in this sector,” Elena Antoneac added.
China ranked third by number of work permits issued in 2017, 563, behind Vietnam – 1,404 and Turkey – 661. In 2016, China ranked first – 501 permits, followed by Turkey – 487 and Philippines – 244.
“Average monthly costs with Vietnamese employees are comparable to the average wage of Romanian employees, which is the main reason why we chose to bring employees from Vietnam instead of other areas,” Vard Tulcea’s Ivan Firsa said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)