Salary report reveals a shocking gap between Budapest and Hungary’s eastern regions

According to the latest reports by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office on average net salaries in 2020, there is a growing gap between Budapest and the country’s easternmost regions, which also lag behind in terms of unemployment.

Based on the quarterly reports published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) in 2020 on net salaries for each county, there are substantial differences between the country’s wealthiest and least developed regions. While the city of Budapest and some western counties traditionally come first, the other end of the ranking is usually represented by regions from the eastern part of the country – and sadly, their position has not shown any improvement for years.

As Magyar Hang writes, the most substantial differences were revealed in the first quarterly report for 2020. In the first three months of the year, the highest average net salary was recorded in Budapest with EUR 915 (HUF 319,968), followed by the country’s westernmost region, Győr-Moson-Sopron county with EUR 771. These are the only regions in the entire country that performed above the national average of EUR 730.

The county of Győr is followed by Komárom-Esztergom northwest of Budapest, where salaries more or less correspond to the national average. It is followed by other two Transdanubian counties, Fejér and Tolna.

The lowest salaries are reported in what are considered the less developed regions in the country. The county with the lowest average figure is Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, the easternmost county with its seat in Nyíregyháza: here, the average net salary is EUR 504 – the last time salaries were this high in Budapest was in 2011.

This also reveals a yawning gap of EUR 402 between the average net salary in Budapest and the country’s least developed county.

According to Magyar Hang, this is the largest gap ever recorded between the highest and lowest average salaries in Hungary. The county of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg has been lagging behind for several years now, and it has also been years that Nógrád and Békés counties are third and second to last, respectively.

This gap of EUR 402 follows a trend of increase observed in the last years, but it is also important to note that by the third quarter of 2020, this gap has somehow shrunk to EUR 380. Another shrinkage was observed in the salary gap between the first and second place: those living in Győr-Moson-Sopron county now only earn EUR 135 less than the labour force in Budapest, compared to EUR 152 in the first quarter of 2020.

Unemployment: a similar pattern

The number of job seekers shows a similar pattern in the country. In the first quarter of 2020, the county with the highest unemployment rate (9.2%) was Nógrád northeast of Budapest, after an increase from 8.7% last year. The region is followed by another eastern region, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, with an unemployment rate of 8.7%.

On the other end of the list, the lowest unemployment figures belong to Budapest and Győr-Moson-Sopron county (both 1.4%), where figures have been only slightly affected by the recent pandemic situation.