Romania's employees increased productivity with 35 pct during the last seven years, the highest growth rate in EU

Romania’s employees increased productivity with 35 pct during the last seven years, the highest growth rate in EU

Romania’s workforce has increased its real labour productivity with 35.8 percent during the last seven years, the highest growth rate among European Union member states, Eurostat data consulted by Business Review show.

The ‘real labour productivity per person’ index, a measure of workforce efficiency, surged 35.8 percent in Romania in 2017 compared to 2010, the basis for comparison in Eurostat series.

Romania is followed by Bulgaria, with a 18.8 percent increase during the same period, Poland (+17.8 pct) and the Czech Republic (+10.3 pct).

Real labour productivity per person index is caculated as real output (deflated GDP measured in chain-linked volumes, reference year 2010) per total employment in all industries.

This rapid index growth is a consequence of high GDP growth rates Romania recorded after the crisis in a labour shortage environment, experts say.

Romania’s GDP rose 4 percent in 2015, 4.8 percent in 2016 and 7 percent in 2017, as the government adopted a strategy of wage-led growth during the last few years, stimulating household consumption and GDP growth rates.

But millions of Romanians left the country in search of a better life in the last decade alone, generating labour shortages in many sectors and putting pressure on companies to increase workers’ productivity.

Labour shortages had also an important effect on wages, official data show. An average Romanian worker earned EUR 7,476 per year in 2010 and EUR 9,161 in 2016 (+22.5 percent), according to Eurostat series.