Gross wages rise 6.4 pc in April – KSH

Budapest, June 21 (MTI) – The average gross wage in Hungary was 264,471 forints (EUR 845) in April, up by 6.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.

Net wage growth outpaced the increase, rising by 8.0 percent to 175,874 forints, because of a one percentage point cut in the personal income tax rate, to 15 percent, from January.

KSH noted that wages were boosted this year by a 5.7 percent increase in the gross minimum wage, a wage rise for the Armed Forces and a wage supplement paid to social sector employees.

Excluding the 210,300 Hungarians in fostered work programmes, the average gross wage rose by 7.2 percent to 280,040 forints, while net wages increased by 8.8 percent to 186,227 forints.

Full-time fostered workers earned gross 79,828 forints on average in April, 3.1 percent less than a year earlier.

Including fostered workers, about 2,987,200 people were employed in positions requiring them to work at least 60 hours a month on average in Hungary in April, 3.9 percent more than a year earlier. Excluding fostered workers, the number rose by 3.3 percent to 2,776,900. The number of fostered workers was up by 13.6 percent.