Hungarian gross wage growth reaches 10.9 pc in May, average net wage was 665 euros

The average gross monthly wage in Hungary stood at 327,500 forints (EUR 1,000) in May, up 10.9 percent year-on-year, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday.

Gross wage growth has been in the double digits since early last year, lifted by an agreement on minimum wage increases as well as a labour shortage.

The average monthly wage included about 18,964 forints in bonuses and benefits.

The average net monthly wage was 217,800 forints (EUR 665).

Excluding the some 136,100 Hungarians in fostered work programmes, gross wages rose by 9.9 percent to 339,978 forints and net wages stood at 226,085 forints. Fostered workers earned a gross monthly 82,166 forints on average in May.

Real wage growth came to 7.9 percent, calculating with a May CPI of 2.8 percent.

In the private sector, which includes state-owned companies, gross wages were up 11.0 percent at 340,974 forints (1041 euros). In the public sector, gross wages climbed 9.9 percent to 302,063 forints.

Hungarians working in industry earned a gross monthly 354,574 forints on average in May. Construction workers earned 250,423 forints, those in the ICT sector made 540,540 forints and those in finance and insurance got 550,762 forints. In the education sector, the average wage was 321,583 forints, and it was 215,105 forints in health and social services.

In the first five months of 2018, the average gross monthly wage stood at 323,400 forints and the average net monthly wage at 215,000 forints, both up 12.1 percent from the same period of last year.

Sándor Bodó, the finance ministry state secretary in charge of employment policy, told public news channel M1 that net wages have grown by 51 percent since 2012 and real wages grew by 32 percent between 2012 and 2017. All tax allowances will be preserved in next year’s budget and most importantly, the social contribution tax is to drop from 19.5 percent to 17.5 percent.