Business News

Romanian wages jump by 25 per cent

Jun 4, 2008, 12:06 GMT

Bucharest - Romania's average wage rose by a quarter in the year through April, the government said Wednesday, signalling that the new EU member's cost advantage for investors is shrinking. Automakers and shipbuilders saw a 40-per-cent increase from last April, the National Statistics Institute said. In March, a strike for higher pay at Renault SA's Dacia budget-car plant highlighted growing wage pressure in Romania, where rapid economic growth has led to a severe shortage of qualified workers. Overall, average monthly pay rose to 1,282 lei (550 dollars), or 24.8 per cent year-on-year, fuelled in part by pay hikes for government workers and traditional Easter bonuses. Bank employees were best-paid at 3,760 lei (about 1,600 dollars). Wood processing workers got the least, 697 lei (300 dollars), the report said. Romania's economy grew at an annual pace of 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, better than analysts had expected and nearly four times the EU average. The south-east European nation of 22 million joined the EU last year along with neighbouring Bulgaria.

Business News

Romanian wages jump by 25 per cent

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