Stable Employment in The Small Business Sector

Employment in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector is stable, and 7 out of 10 of the companies concerned are preparing to raise wages, by an average of 9%, K&H said on Wednesday, based on its latest SME Confidence Index research.

They added that the survey indicates the expectations of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary for the next year.

The statement quoted Zoltán Rammacher, head of SME marketing and sales support at K&H, as saying that according to their March survey, employment in the SME sector is stable, with 77% of firms planning to keep the same number of employees in the next year. The last time this proportion was this high was in 2017. Currently, 16% of firms are preparing to hire new staff, a slight decrease from 23% in the previous quarter. At the same time, however, fewer firms are preparing to make redundancies, with only 5% instead of 8%, he said.

Zoltán Rammacher noted that 72% of businesses expect a pay rise. On average, workers can expect a 9% wage increase in the next year, slightly down from 11% in the previous quarter.

In terms of fringe benefits, the sector is also more subdued now, with the share of firms considering a cafeteria scheme falling from 50% to 45%. The top three forms of benefits remain unchanged. Compared to the previous quarter, the 13th month's salary has seen a more significant change, with the proportion of firms planning to offer this benefit falling from 25% to 20%. In addition, transport reimbursement and SZÉP cards continue to be the most popular items, according to K&H.

K&H has produced the quarterly K&H SME Confidence Index since 2004. In the latest survey, conducted between February 20 and March 17, business decision-makers of 400 Hungarian-based companies with annual sales of less than HUF 2 billion were interviewed.