Hungarian employers want to freeze the minimum wage

Employers said an agreement on next year’s minimum wage rise should be delayed because of uncertainty caused by the pandemic at a meeting of the VKF, a forum of employers, unions and government representatives, on Tuesday.

Ferenc Rolek, the deputy head of business association MGYOSZ, told MTI after the meeting that it “isn’t practical” to raise the minimum wage from January 1 because of the current degree of uncertainty. Employers propose talks on the increase should be postponed until the outlook for 2021 becomes more clear, he added.

At this point in time, he said,

employers don’t see a realistic chance to raise the minimum wage from January 1.

Rolek said employers calculated that the 8 percent minimum wage rise agreed on for this year would be offset by inflation, increased productivity and a reduction in the payroll tax.

While the payroll tax was cut by two percentage points and inflation was around 3 percent, productivity declined five percentage points, he added.