Real wages of blue-collar workers on the rise again after more than a year
In the third quarter, the average gross hourly wage of skilled and semi-skilled manual workers was 1,855 forints, according to an analysis of Trenkwalder's payroll data on nearly 7,000 employees. This represents an increase of 17.4 percent compared to 1,579 forints in the same period last year. Wages in the top pay grades have changed less: Moore Hungary found a 9.2 percent increase in wages for around 500 middle managers in more than 60 mostly internationally-owned domestic companies compared to the third quarter of 2022.
„Another major turning point The domestic labour market has recovered: thanks to the fall in the consumer price index, the pace of wage increases has started to outpace inflation again after more than a year. According to KSH, consumer prices in September were on average 12.2 per cent above the level of a year earlier, meaning that physical wages real value has already increased by around 5 percent in compared to 12 months ago - emphasises Viktor Hamrák, Service Director at Trenkwalder. - The forecasts show that inflation will soon return to the sub-10% range, which is what we can expect, the purchasing power of manual workers' earnings will continue to grow in the coming quarters.”
Statistics by region show that the average hourly wage in Northern Hungary is around HUF 1600, while in the other regions it is between HUF 1700 and 1900. Central Hungary and the capital, on the other hand, are increasingly outperforming the national field, with average hourly wages in these areas now exceeding HUF 2 500.
At the same time, Moore Hungary examined the salary data of nearly 500 middle managers working at the domestic subsidiaries of more than 60 international companies. In the gross monthly salary range between HUF 700,000 and HUF 1 million the rate of pay increases for employees working in 9.2 percent on average in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.
„Among intellectual middle managers a significant proportion of firms have still not been able to fully compensate for inflation by raising wages - points out Péter Hajnal, Managing Partner of Moore Hungary. For many businesses, the primary objective is to ensure continuity of operations, given the increased costs. However, with inflation gradually falling, we expect real wages in this segment to start rising gradually by the end of the year.”
Employing more than 60 thousand people nationally, the for middle managers in service centres (SSCs) slightly above the above average for middle managers in the intellectual professions, Wage increase of 9.7 per cent implemented over the past year. In this group, there has been a slight increase in the number of people who have tried to achieve higher wage increases by changing jobs. In the sample analysed, exit turnover increased from 3 to around 7 per cent in a year. Meanwhile, competition for workers with the right qualifications and language skills is once again intensifying in this area, which is expected to be reflected in further increases in the level of wages offered.
Moore Hungary
Moore Global, which started in a London office more than 110 years ago, is now one of the world's leading consulting and audit networks. Present in over 100 countries worldwide, the network has more than 600 independent offices and over 30,000 employees. The group's turnover for the last financial year exceeded $3 billion.
Moore Global's services will be directly available in the domestic market from March 2021. Moore Hungary has been offering a full range of consulting services in the fields of business, financial, tax, accounting and auditing with a team of almost 100 experts since its inception.
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