The domains where other cities beat Bucharest, in terms of salaries, are those that have witnessed strong growth - IT, retail and banking.
Programmers, trade workers, retail cashiers, as well as staff that hold certain entry-level positions in the banking system, now have the opportunity to earn higher wages in cities such as Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca and Constanta.
"It's now possible to talk about higher wages in the above-mentioned cities in IT, business development and retail.
Sometimes it's not only the field of activity that matters, but also the level of the position.
For instance, "unskilled" positions, where there is a high fluctuation of labour (typical in regions with a low potential for recruitment) can be better paid than in Bucharest, where there are more potential candidates," says Oana Botolan, country manager at Consulteam, the exclusive representative on the domestic market of Mercer, a global provider of HR consulting services.
The main reasons why the major investment poles outside Bucharest offer (for certain industries and positions) higher wages than employers in Bucharest is because of the increasing shortage of personnel and rising fluctuations in labour.
As a result, while Bucharest firms find it difficult to cope with the heavy fluctuation of personnel, firms outside Bucharest find this situation even more difficult, because they operate on a much smaller market.
Cristina Pasat, general manager of Professional recruitment agency, believes this is the reason why firms outside Bucharest have always been more interested in retention policies, because wages are an important factor in this type of policy.
"As a result, there are positions in cities, other than Bucharest that are better paid, but this is not a general rule. Statistically, the Bucharest area is still the leader in terms of wages," adds Pasat.
The gap between the average wage in Bucharest and outside the capital is much more visible at a management level. A personnel shortage is also narrowing the gap between similar categories of specialists in Bucharest and outside the capital city.
As an economic mechanism, it is only normal that there should be positions that rank higher in terms of wages outside Bucharest during this period.
In major cities (other than Bucharest) investments in development have posted a slower rate since the '90s, believes Marcel Anghel, director with ISDC Romania, a provider of IT solutions. However, employers and recruiters say the good news is wage differences will eventually peter out.
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