Huge Gender Pay Gap Between Graduates

Budapest, July 8 (MTI) – The gap between the average monthly net wages of fresh male and female graduates has increased over the past years and is the biggest today in the IT field, a recent education survey quoted by daily Magyar Nemzet said today.

The wage difference increased from an average 40,000 forints (EUR 129) in 2011 to 45,000 forints by 2012 and to 50,000 forints by 2013, according to a survey conducted by Educatio Kft, a public and higher education monitoring and development projects company supporting the Human Resources Ministry.

The difference varied among professions and was the biggest, 64,000 forints, in IT, the survey conducted about the employment and wage prospects of fresh graduates at 32 higher education institutions said.

The monthly wage of young job starters was 168,400 forints on average in 2013. The highest monthly wage–270,000 forints–was earned by career-starting engineers, while the lowest wage–109,000 forints–went to gym teachers.

Around a tenth of Hungarian university students go to pursue studies abroad, the survey said, noting that this is a plus reflected in their future salaries: young graduates with foreign experience can expect to take home 247,000 forints net per month, compared with those with no experience abroad receiving 179,000 forints net.

Unemployment among graduates with a university degree in the age group of 15-24 is 5.8 percent compared with 24 percent among their peers holding no diploma, Educatio’s survey said.

In an effort to improve the employment situation in the 15-24 age group, the government will launch designated programmes using 200 billion forints (EUR 645m) in EU funds in 2014-2020, the paper said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters