Employees, jobseekers advantaged by post-pandemic job market, eJobs CEO says

The first post-pandemic year, 2022, gave the upper hand to employees and jobseekers in Romania, as companies vying for new talent upped salaries and expanded teams, according to recruitment platform eJobs.

eJobs, one of the top recruitment websites in the country, registered 14.1% more jobs listed this year than in 2021, and 5.5% more than in 2019.

“In 2022, jobseekers and employees were able to balance between offers available in the market and their own expectations. Even in close proximity to a war zone and in the context of rising inflation, changing jobs or getting a raise were goals that were fairly easy to achieve for a wide range of candidates in 2022, irrespective of the level of experience or geographical distribution,” said eJobs Romania CEO Bogdan Badea in a press release.

The counties with the highest salaries in 2022 were Bucharest, with an average net salary of RON 4,500, followed by Cluj (RON 4,100), Timiș (RON 4,000), Sibiu, Brasov, Iasi, and Ilfov (RON 3,500 each), according to Salario, the eJobs salary comparator.

When it comes to new hires, the ranking of counties looks almost identical. The capital is in the first place, followed by Cluj and Timiș, the next two places being disputed by Iasi and Ilfov. Other counties where the average net salary exceeds the threshold of RON 3,000 are Bihor (RON 3,500), Constanța (RON 3,200), and Dolj (RON 3,200).

On the bottom of the ranking were counties such as Gorj, Vaslui, Mehedinți, Bacău, or Ialomița. Net salaries in these counties oscillated between RON 2,700 and RON 3,000. The counties at the bottom also had a significantly lower number of jobs available, and many candidates who qualified only for entry-level jobs. The fields with the most open positions in these counties are retail, services, tourism, and the food industry.

The best paid in 2022 were IT employees, who dominate the hierarchy with an average monthly net salary of RON 6,000. Those who work in project management occupy the second position, with an average net salary of RON 5,000. Employees in the banking sector earned RON 4,300 per month on average, followed by those in telecommunications and construction (RON 4,200). Average salaries of RON 4,000 were also recorded in engineering, auto/equipment, medicine, e-commerce, audit/consulting, and insurance.

“In terms of earnings, the labor market has always had a paradox that is unlikely to change in the near future. Specifically, the areas that hired the most were not always the ones that earned the most. This is because there are large shares of employees in entry-level positions in places where we see very high volumes in recruitment. That is why we will find areas such as retail, services, the food industry, or tourism at the top of the largest employers in Romania, at a considerable distance from the next ranked, but somewhere in the second part of the hierarchy when we make an evaluation according to salaries,” Badea added.