Average Gross Earnings Could Reach the HUF 1 million Threshold by 2028

At the presentation of the “Responsible Employer of the Year” award, Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy presented in detail the expected wage growth rate for the coming years: “From next year, GDP growth is expected to be between three to six percent, coupled with rapid wage convergence based on economic growth, which is one of the government’s new economic policy objectives,” he said. According to him, we could easily reach the minimum wage of EUR 1,000 and average earnings of HUF 1 million (EUR 2,500) by 2028.

“We would like to see the purchasing power of wages rise, but wage growth that is not in line with economic growth is unthinkable,” Magyar Nemzet quotes Márton Nagy as saying. Just a week ago, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the government believes that a million forints salary in Hungary is within reach in a few years.

To clarify the ambiguity of the Prime Minister’s words, Nagy indicated that

the HUF 1 million threshold was not considered to be achievable in terms of average wages, but in terms of average gross earnings.

He also shared a chart of the expected increase in minimum wages and average gross earnings in the coming years, showing that the minimum wage could indeed reach EUR 1,000 by 2028, while average gross earnings would approach HUF 1 million and exceed it by 2029, writes the portal.

The minister thus refined Viktor Orbán’s earlier words, namely that a lower wage increase than previously assumed would be sufficient, rather than the 14-15 percent annual rate that even analysts say is not sustainable.

Márton Nagy himself believes that the current wage dynamics of 9-10 percent real wage growth is not sustainable in the long term, and that a rate of four to five percent is more realistic.

That is why the government needs to kick-start economic growth, which the Minister expects to be between three to six percent next year.

The portal points out that the chart shared by the Minister also included increases in the minimum wage and guaranteed minimum wage (for skilled workers) for the coming years. According to those data, the mandatory minimum wage could increase by 12 percent next year, while the guaranteed minimum wage could rise by 10 percent.

Via MTI, Magyar Nemzet, Featured image: Pixabay