Study: Wage growth in Romanian private sector, higher than estimated

Salaries in the Romanian private sector went up by an average of 5.1% this year, according to the 2017 edition of the PayWell Romania's payroll and pay study. The survey was carried out by PwC Romania on about 100 private companies in the financial-banking, pharmaceutical, industrial, retail and hotel sectors. Overall, the participating companies had planned an average wage advance of 4.8% for the current year, the real increase being slightly higher than the initial estimate. “In 2017, there were no significant differences between the wage increases planned by companies and the actual increases. It is very important that the private sector has been able to maintain a high degree of predictability of these expenditures over the past two years, given the legislative changes and the advance in the public sector wages,” said Ionut Simion, country managing partner with PwC Romania. Companies active in the industrial sector failed to meet this year's target. The salaries in this sector increased by 7.5%, compared to the planned 5.6%. Higher than initially planned increases were also recorded in the retail and hotel sector, of 6.3% and 7%, respectively. Meanwhile, the banking sector saw the lowest wage advance in the private sector, of only 2.1%, below the planned increase of 3.3% and the one registered last year of 3.2%. By categories of employees, the unqualified or less qualified staff (workers, operators, etc.) saw the highest salary increases this year, of 6.7%. At the opposite end, those in the companies’ top management had the lowest advance, with an average of 4.5%. The plans related to salary increases are expected to remain on the same trend in 2018, with an increase of 5.7% for workers and 4.5% for senior management in companies, and sales staff. “The increase in the minimum wage plays an important role in the pace of the wage growth for the categories of workers. This increased by 16% in 2017 and is expected to further increase by almost 7% in 2018, to RON 1,550,” said Oana Munteanu, senior manager, leader of the Human Resource Consulting Services Team, PwC Romania. The study also revealed that around half of the participating companies offer fixed bonuses on different occasions. The amount offered to employees as a fixed bonus was an average of RON 800 (some EUR 175). Fixed bonuses are usually granted in December and April, correlated with the holiday season. For most categories of employees, the performance bonus paid in 2017 was higher than the one originally planned by companies. Moreover, in addition to larger bonuses, the companies have extended their extra-wage benefits as well. Private medical services became this year the main benefit provided by companies in addition to salary. Around 70% of companies are currently making this option available to their employees, up from 55% last year. Romania’s minimum wage to reach EUR 440 in 2018 Three in ten Romanian employees, happy with extra-salary benefits