It is shocking how low Hungarian salaries are

If we compare salaries in euro, the difference between Western-Europe and Hungary is shocking. If we do so taking into consideration the purchasing power standard (PPS), they become lower, but still significant. Based on the PPS, a Danish, German or Austrian worker gets two or even three times more than a Hungarian.

According to penzcentrum.hu, the average Danish gets 27.2 EUR per hour while this sum is only 2.4 EUR in Bulgaria. The former is 11 times higher than the latter even though both countries are members of the European Union. The same difference is typical in Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, France and Germany.

Hungary is in third place – counting from behind on the list of countries where people can get higher salaries. Only Bulgarians and Romanians can take less gross average salary home than the Hungarians

whose median income is 1,562 HUF per hour (less than 4.37 EUR).

Meanwhile, the average Danish worker gets 9,656 HUF (27 EUR) per hour.

It is another question what that money is worth on the market; what one can buy for it in Denmark and Hungary. Of course, in Denmark, the cost of living is much higher than in Hungary, so the 11 times higher wage does not equal an 11 times higher living standard.

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Based on a report of Eurostat, taking into consideration a purchasing power standard, the difference between Denmark and Hungary melts to “only” 4.4 times in favour of the Northern-European country. According to the PPS, Hungary is placing fifth from behind on the list mentioned above. The country precedes Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Bulgaria, but Romania is before Hungary in this respect. That means that an average Romanian can live on a higher living standard than an average Hungarian because even though he gets a lower salary

he can buy more for it in Romania.

In the case of the Netherlands, the median gross salary corrected with PPS is two times more than in Hungary. That is why there are so many Hungarians who decided to leave the country. They would like to reach a higher standard of living in Western-European countries or the United States of America. Even though the Hungarian government launched some programs to help them come home, they were not successful in doing so.

Coronavirus changed the trends since many were forced to return home while others could not leave the country. However, after the end of the epidemic, many are believed to leave Hungary again. For example, those healthcare professionals who are now forbidden to leave their workplaces, but get low salaries. We reported about this problem HERE.

Source: penzcentrum.hu