At the weekend, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presented his new economic program at a meeting of ruling party factions in Esztergom, which can be summarized in three main headlines:
- affordable housing,
- Million income and working loan and
- Capital support for Hungarian small businesses.
Of course, even according to the government, it is necessary for this purpose With a policy of economic neutrality, they can raise the growth rate of the Hungarian economy to between three and six percentAccording to the Prime Minister
The new economic policy will put the Hungarian economy on a stronger growth path from 2025
– About which, by the way, a national consultation is taking place.
Incidentally, the Prime Minister's announcement came at a rather interesting time, as wage negotiations between employers and employees have stalled in the Permanent Consultative Forum on Competition and Government (VKF), with both parties waiting to receive the necessary macroeconomic data. From the Ministry of National Economy (NGM).
However, there is reason for optimism Melinda ButcherThe head of the La Liga trade unions indicated to Economics that the negotiations on the three-year wage agreement point in this direction, meaning that it is realistic that…
In the foreseeable future, with a gradual increase in January 2027, the minimum wage in our country should be 400,000 Hungarian forints, which will also automatically raise the level of the guaranteed minimum wage.
At the same time, Melinda Meszaros draws attention to the fact that there is an important difference in interpretation between government objectives and employee expectations regarding reference value. Prime Minister is He's talking about the average gross salarywhich includes all salary payments, while a employees to average normal gross income They will compare minimum wages.
There is little difi
To understand the difference, according to the Central Statistical Office (KSH), the average regular gross salary for the entire group of employers was 592,831 HUF after the second quarter, while the average gross salary was 634,755 HUF before that.
At the same time, it is not impossible to reach the overall average salary limit of 1 million Hungarian forints either
– The union leader said, adding: But not in 2025, but in January 2027 at the earliest. Thus the average normal gross income can reach 850-860 thousand HUF.
However, the head of the Liga trade unions drew attention to the fact that this largely depends on the economic situation and macroeconomic processes, and a lot can still happen until 2027, but the wage growth path set by Viktor Orbán is in line with employee goals.
Photo: Economx.hu
If we consider the fact that the average gross salary had already exceeded 600,000 HUF (621,150 HUF) in November last year, and according to the latest available data from July this year, it was also 636,734 HUF, we can see that since January 2020 (364,586 Hungarian forints) and this amount has almost doubled, according to data from the Central Statistical Office. By the way, in March of this year, the average gross salary of full-time employees was more than 658,000 HUF.
Thus, for the average gross wage to rise to more than one million Hungarian forints, a fifty percent wage increase would be sufficient, which the Hungarian economy has managed to exceed in the last three years as well.
– noted economist Géza Sebastian.
The head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's economic policy workshop stressed that during the coming period we can expect strong growth in terms of real wages, which will translate into growth in consumption and gross domestic product. He also drew attention to the fact that increasing the minimum wage would also push up the value of all incomes, and the effect of increasing wages could be stabilized in the long run using other economic stimulus tools, such as enhancing the country's export capacity. Small and medium enterprises. The main task of the government is to create the economic framework within which businesses can grow and increase their sales. According to Géza Sebestyen
The government paved the dirt road leading to this goal.
Since the wage burden and corporate income tax rate have been significantly reduced, but a great deal of administrative simplification has also been carried out, preferential loans and subsidies have also become available. The next step is
Let economic growth flow down to the employee level, and let them benefit from it as well.
According to the MCC employee, the VKF provides a good opportunity for this, as the government is represented alongside employers and employees. In the consultation forum, the aspect of competitiveness is also highlighted, what is the minimum wage that companies are still able to extract.
The expert also addressed the Economyx inquiry that since the Prime Minister set the minimum wage target at 1,000 euros, it is therefore protected against the exchange rate, and the value of the purchase will remain even if the forint weakens. At the same time, inflation is now within the multinational bank's target range, and unless another major energy crisis occurs, which Géza Sebestyen makes unlikely, the period of stable inflation will remain and the exchange rate will not be liberalized. This is important because it ensures that the value of 1 million forints after three years will still be comparable to today's value.
