Best-paid expat makes 8,300 euros per month

The highest officially registered wage of a foreign national that is currently employed on the Romanian labour market amounts to some 300 million ROL (over 8,300 euros), the data of the Workforce Migration Office (OMFM) reveals.

“The minimum wage a foreigner makes is the same as the average wage made by a Romanian citizen. Our data shows that the highest wage of a foreign citizen stands at approximately 300 million ROL a month. Wages depend on the field of activity and on the position that a particular person holds,” Aurel Teodorescu, the director of OMFM, an institution that issues work permits for foreigners told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.

According to the information on the market, the manager of a top five company in Romania in terms of turnover makes one million euros a year or 85,000 euros a month.

The head of the Office added that nearly one quarter of the foreign citizens that come to work in Romania take up management positions. Therefore 24% of the work permits granted to foreign citizens are for people in management positions.

The Office data also show that almost two thirds of the foreigners that are currently working in Romania are people with only a secondary education, or even less. Those with a higher education account for just 30% of the total.

The fields of activity in greatest demand are manufacturing, towards which 37% of the workforce from abroad is directed, as well as trade and services, preferred by 31% and 13% of these foreign workers.

Turkey provides about one fifth (18%) of the foreign work force on the Romanian labour market, the Republic of Moldova accounts for 14% and China for 10%.

“Compared with other countries, Romania has a small number of foreigners with active work permits, approximately 3,500,” says Teodorescu.

The figure includes both workers and people engaged in various forms of commerce. This year will see 10,000 new work permits issued to foreigners, over three times as many as in 2005.