Romanians have witnessed one of the biggest average salary increases in Eastern Europe over the past two years, the national Rompres news agency reported on Friday, citing an annual research report.

With a real net growth of 7.2% in average salaries in 2006, Romania is ahead of Poland (3.9%), Bulgaria (3.1%), the Czech Republic (2.4%) and Slovakia (2.3%), according to an annual report by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO).

The average gross salary in Romania, 1,387 lei ($600 US) as of April 2007, is still far behind the average level in Western Europe, but the wage is comparable in certain fields like the IT or financial-banking systems, according to the EIRO report. The gap between the wage level in Eastern and Western Europe has started to diminish, said the report.

Romania is closest to wage levels in neighboring countries and even Western nations at a middle and top management level in several industries, said Petre Ilie, consultant with AIMS Human Capital, the Romanian associated partner of the Association of International Management Search (AIMS).

Most experts in Romania said salaries have considerably increased since EU accession due to a significant foreign investment inflow and an increasing shortage of qualified personnel in most industries.