Rising Foreign Investment in Romania

With well-trained labor force and salaries with at least 50% below those in Western European countries, Romania ranks 10th in Europe and 4th in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as the number of jobs created as a result of foreign investment projects carried out in the country in 2012, according to a study by Ernst & Young.

"Romania last year attracted 7,114 jobs generated by foreign investment, 18.9% more than in 2011, according to Ernst & Young. The CEE region regained the attraction for foreign investment in 2012, two disappointing years. The region attracted 26.1% more jobs, surpassing Western Europe. Worldwide and European Companies are increasingly expanding production capacities in Central and Eastern Europe. Renault, for example, only produces a quarter of its cars in France, the rest being produced in Romania, Morocco, Slovenia and Turkey", says the company's annual report.

The authors state that both Romania and the region enjoys the advantage of capable and affordable human capital, making it competitive with Western Europe. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, annual wages in CEE countries remain on average half of those in Germany, France and UK.

Although Romania is well-known to foreign investors for natural resources (oil, gas, energy) it often seems that the most important resource is still the human capital, the country's labor force. As an example Romania is Europe's preferred destination for international outsourcing companies because of the impressive number of foreign speaking persons (2nd only to the Netherlands).

Enescu & Cuc is a law firm oriented towards foreign investors in Romania. In order to register your Romanian company, you can contact us or visit our specialized website www.romanianlawoffice.com.