Hungarian companies raising salaries in masses

Two companies out of three have already experienced difficulties related to the lack of labour force, as Forbes.hu reported. The only solution they can usually come up with is raising salaries. 

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary lack skilled workers rather than capital, as K&H’s new survey shows. Two-thirds of the Hungarian companies have already faced difficulties related to the shortage of employees. This tendency leads to the fact that twice as many companies are searching for new employees as in the last year. Moreover, a wave of increasing salaries are inbound.

KSH’s most recent data show that a record number of vacancies were registered in the third quarter of the year.

There were almost 53,600 unmanned positions in the enterprise sector, which is a 30% increase compared to the same period in the last year.

The total national economy lacked more than 70,000 employees between July and September. This was the period when K&H did its survey among the Hungarian company managers.

K&H’s manager of marketing department Viktor Zoltán Kovács stated that 67% of the enterprises faced challenges related to the lack of labour force this year. He also added that labour market’s role is becoming more and more significant.

36% more of the companies are planning to recruit new employees compared to last year. The sector in which a person is seeking new jobs can make a difference.

While every fourth agricultural or commercial company intends to hire new workers, half of the industrial companies are planning to increase the number of their employees.

It seems that most companies are trying to tempt and keep their workers with higher salaries. 75% of the small and medium-sized enterprises are planning to raise wages by an average 9.5%. Both numbers are the highest since 2004. Viktor Zoltán Kovács claims that this can be seen as a reaction to the government’s intention to raise minimum wages.

Minimum wages increased by 8% by this year. Gross minimum payment is 447 euros (net 297), while gross minimum wage is 585 euros (net 389). K&H’s survey shows that the Hungarian enterprises will be forced to catch up with this tendency.

The highest raises in 2018 will affect people working in agriculture (88%) and medium-sized enterprises (86%).

Source: Forbes.hu