Wages of construction managers to increase by 50% in 2008

“The employee deficit will drive the wage growth, so that the average market wage of some €350-400 last year will increase by about 35 percent in 2008,” says Laurentiu Plosceanu, President of the Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ARACO).

Wage growth is a means of decreasing personnel fluctuation, which is very high, says Monica Georgescu, Senior Consultant of Lugera&Makler, advisory and employee recruiting company. She added that managers will benefit from performance bonuses.

The trend to hire foreign managers due to a lack of internal resources and foreign companies present on the Romanian market will continue, Plosceanu says.

“Regarding new projects, initiated in 2008, some 25-30 percent of positions could be filled by foreigners,” says ARACO President.

Other recruiting companies are expecting the opposite trend, as Romanian engineers with international experience are more recently given preference over foreigners.

At the end of 2007, some 380,000 employees were working on the construction market, according to ARACO data. Plosceanu estimates a market development of 35 percent and an increase in production of 40-45 percent in 2008.

The Romanian construction market is subject to the fastest growth rate of all European Union member states, according to date from the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat.