Wages grow 8.6 percent yr/yr in November

In absolute terms, the average gross monthly wage for full-time employees stood at 438,200 forints (EUR 1,200). The average net wage was 291,400 forints.

Calculating with twelve-month CPI of 2.7 percent in November, real wages grew by 5.7 percent.

K and H Bank senior analyst David Nemeth said that the Jan-Nov wage increase last year was mainly a result of January’s increase in the minimum wage. The outlooks for this year are uncertain, considering that the minimum wage is set to increase less than last year and it is still uncertain what kind of wage increases will be implemented in the various sectors, he added. The considerable wage hikes in health care could impact the wage dynamics for the entire economy, he said.

Szazadveg Economic Research macroeconomic analyst Daniel Molnar said that the coronavirus epidemic had prevented employers from being able to increase wages at the rate seen in previous years, so the slowdown of wage dynamics was no surprise. Szazadveg expects a further slowdown in wage increase and forecasts 5.6 percent for 2021, Molnar said. In areas most affected by the restrictions, efforts will be focused on keeping jobs rather than on boosting wages, he added.