Two in Ten Workers Take Home Minimum Wage

Nearly 570,000 workers earn a guaranteed minimum wage of HUF 260,000 gross or less, which is nearly 20% of full-time employees, according to data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office KSH).

KSH has published its analysis of the second quarterly wage data. It shows that wages are growing fast in Hungary, but also that a significant number of people are earning the minimum wage.

In the second quarter of 2022, the average gross monthly earnings of full-time employees (in enterprises with at least five employees and in non-profit organizations significant for employment) reached HUF 502,300, up 15.2% in nominal terms from a year earlier. The index was 8 percentage points higher than the increase recorded in the same period of the previous year, meaning that wage dynamics accelerated for many.

"The high earnings growth among manual workers was mainly driven by the increase in the minimum wage at the beginning of the year and wage increases in large public enterprises, while among manual workers, it was mainly driven by budgeted wage increases, and in both groups of workers by the ongoing wage increases and increased bonuses induced by the growing labor shortage and rising inflation," the KSH analysis showed.