Retailer Profi surpasses carmaker Dacia as biggest employer in Romania

Supermarket chain Profi, controlled by investment fund Mid Europa Partners, was the private company with the highest number of employees in Romania in 2019. It surpassed carmaker Dacia, which has dominated the ranking in recent years, according to Economica.net compiling data from the Trade Registry (ONRC).

On average, Profi had over 16,000 employees on its payroll in 2019, about 2,700 more than 2018.

Profi is the local retailer with the most expansive footprint, as it operates over 1,200 stores in more than 550 locations in Romania.

Automobile Dacia, the largest Romanian car manufacturer in the country, topped the ranking of biggest employers in 2018 and 2017, according to previous reports of Economica.net. The Dacia plant in Mioveni came second in the top of private companies with most employees in 2019, with over 14,700 employees last year.

The ranking is based on the average number of employees reported by individual companies in Romania. When considering groups of companies, the ranking is different. For example, the French group Renault had close to 18,000 employees in Romania last year, 3,100 of whom work for other group companies than Dacia.

The third-biggest individual employer in 2019 was the telecom group RCS&RDS, with almost 13,000 employees on average last year.

The food retailers with the most employees in 2019 were: Profi, Kaufland, Carrefour, Mega Image, Auchan, and Lidl.

The banks were also important employers, the biggest of them being Banca Transilvania, BRD, CEC Bank, and BCR. Of these, only Banca Transilvania increased its average number of employees in 2019, compared to 2018.

(Photo source: Profi)