PwC: As a first, Romanians' real salary increases were negative

Private company employees' salaries have risen this year by 4.3% on average, but the employees have not felt the salary hikes in the real purchasing power as the almost 7.6% inflation actually points to negative growth, reveals PayWell Romania 2010 salary and perk survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Romania audit and consulting services firm.
"In 2010, we're speaking for the first time of negative growth as people have seen their purchasing power decline as the inflation tops the initial salary raise forecast. We've noticed that yearend budgets differ from the forecasts at the beginning of the year and the salary increase operated subsequently is even lower," maintains Horaţiu Cocheci, a manager with the HR consultancy unit of PwC.
The Paywell survey includes 150 companies, most of them multinationals, with over 140,000 employees in nine fields of business. The data were collected in the first six months of the year.
Whereas last year the salary increases operated by private companies (by 7.2%) managed to cover the inflation rate (of 5.6%), this year increases can hardly cover half of the inflation value.