Declining employees, growing wages in the Hungarian tourism sector

The number of people working in accommodation and hospitality fell by 4.9 percent in 2018 to 180,000, while employees’ average wages in the sector grew by 13 percent to 212,000 forints (EUR 651.0), the Central Statistical Office’s (KSH) annual sector report published on Friday shows.

The sector’s performance has been improving continuously since 2013, KSH said. The value-added in 2018 is expected at 8.8 percent, the report shows.

Altogether 4.0 percent of jobholders and 3.4 percent of employees worked in accommodation and hospitality in 2018, KSH said.

Wages of employees in the sector are still lagging behind the national average with 212,000 forints on average, after a 13 percent rise in 2018, KSH said.

Workers in Budapest earned the most, a gross 240,000 forints, and workers in southeast Hungarian Békés County the least, an average 177,296 forints, it said.

Source: MTI