Gross wages grew in Hungary by an annual 10.4 percent in November, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) has announced.
According to the figures, in absolute terms, Hungarians employed on a full-time basis earned a gross monthly wage of 355,100 HUF (1,118 EUR). Net wages also grew by 10.4 percent, to 236,100 HUF (744 EUR) during the same period.
The twelve-month wage growth has been in the double digits since early 2017, after an agreement was reached by employers, unions and the government on big minimum wage increases paired with payroll tax cuts.
Sándor Bodó, the finance ministry’s state secretary for employment, said government endeavors to ensure the wage increases, which have lasted 71 months so far, will continue this year.
Bodó noted that wages have been growing in both the public and private sectors, and employment in government fostered job schemes is declining as workers move to the primary market. In 2018, employees pocketed an extra month’s salary, he said, noting a marked wage increase for manual workers and a higher rate of wage hikes in the country’s less advanced regions.
Bodó said that a new two-year wage agreement, coupled with a reduction in the social contribution tax, negotiated in 2018 would underpin further wage increases. The government expects an average rise of above 6 percent in real wages this year.