LMP: Orbán should give up policy of low wages

Budapest, July 4 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should stop embracing a policy of low wages in Hungary, which forces skilled workers to continue to seek jobs abroad, leader of the opposition LMP party Bernadett Szél said on Monday.

An immediate effect of Brexit is that Hungarians are hurrying their decision to leave home to take jobs abroad, Szel told a press conference. In addition, more and more regions in Hungary report that guest workers are offered jobs as there is a shortage of adequate job seekers among Hungarians. Citing the example of an automotive industry supplier in Szugy, northern Hungary, Szél said the factory has employed Mexican, Russian and Serbian guest workers while the region records 20 percent unemployment among locals.

Szél blamed the Hungarian government for causing distortions on the labour market by excessively promoting fostered work schemes and keeping wages low. As a result, Hungary has the fifth lowest net average wages in the European Union, and lowest among the Visegrad Four countries, she said. Szél also called for tax changes which would reduce social inequality and lower taxes on pay. She said the government should spend more on training the labour force as well as on education.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI