“We have hired some 50 employees since early this year, when we started activities, but the way the market has evolved is determining us to continue the recruiting process,” said Carita Vallinkoski, Expansion Management at CCC Romania.
Vallinkoski says that Romania has excellent linguistic capabilities and company activity is easy compared to other countries.
CCC is present in five countries and has over 2,000 employees. Its offices outside Romania are in Berlin, Bratislava, Leipzig, Linz, Vienna and Zurich.
Labor costs still not scaring away FDI
mircea.marin@standard.ro
Labor costs have not yet become a competitive disadvantage for attracting foreign direct investments (FDI), in spite of constancy in terms of quality and a rise in the prices of raw materials.
According to the European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, Romania ranked second in 2006 among member states preferred by companies in the euro-zone, with €7.6 billion in FDI.
In spite of salary rises, Romania still has advantages for foreign investments, according to Professor of Economics Daniel Daianu. Its most important feature is macroeconomic stability, Daianu added.
Lower salaries were not vital for German Daimler carmaker when it opted for Hungary over Romania for its new €800 million production unit. Daimler’s spokesman, Florian Martens, did not mention labor costs or salary rises among the reasons for this decision, in a statement for Business Standard.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the average net salary rose 23.3 percent in May 2008 compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, trade unions are demanding a higher minimum wage.
