Number of working poor rises drastically in Hungary

The number of people with jobs living in poverty has doubled in the past seven years in Hungary to nearly 450,000, or 10 percent of job-holders, green opposition LMP’s deputy group leader told a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday, citing Eurostat data.

The number of working poor grew fastest in Hungary in EU comparison, Antal Csárdi said.

No work-based society can be created without “decent” wages, he said.

The government uses “doctored” data, Csárdi insisted, emphasising the average wage, while nearly three-quarters of employees earn below that marker. High inflation further erodes their income, he said.

The Central Statistical Office reported that the average gross monthly wage in Hungary stood at 321,200 forints (EUR 998.7) in August.

Csárdi called for scrapping the flat personal income tax system “which only benefits the top 20 percent of society”.

He said it should be replaced with progressive taxation, “a fair and sustainable tax rate for people with average income” and a tax-free minimum wage. Those measures would boost consumption and so benefit the economy, he said.

Source: MTI