Austrian and German companies say they will raise salaries by 8% this year

Over 1,000 German and Austrian-held companies present on the Romanian market said they would increase salaries by an average 7.9% this year, show the results of a survey conducted by Austrian executive search company Kienbaum conducted in April-August 2010. On the other hand, research from the local subsidiary of Kienbaum, which also included another 73 companies in its survey shows that Romanian employers in fact intend to boost salaries by 2.7 to 3% this year, but that the real growth would not be felt in Romanians' pockets, considering that inflation has remained high (at over 7.9% currently).

In Romania there were more than 17,000 German-held firms and 5,800 Austrian-held firms at the end of last year.
"In 2011 the basic salary will increase by an average 2.7-3%, below inflation, with employers planning to operate other increases to the fluctuating salary, based on performance," said Loreda Dragomir, country manager for Romania and Bulgaria of Kienbaum, the newest player on the Romanian executive search market, which officially opened its Bucharest office in November last year. Dragomir, 41, was Chief Operating Officer at Stanton Chase in the last two years, one of the biggest executive search firms on the Romanian market, having previously worked in other companies in the sector, such as Hudson and Grafton.