Compared to the Poles, Hungarian salaries are ridiculous, which is not the biggest problem

If we talk about employment statistics, the basis of it all, the alpha and omega are obviously the unemployment and employment rates. The graph we prepared based on OECD data clearly shows that

In terms of employment, Hungary leads the EU, behind Western countries such as Austria, the Netherlands and Germany, and, of the four particularly important countries in the region, only the Czech Republic has a better employment rate. .

As far as unemployment is concerned, it is no coincidence that the highest rates are found in countries where unemployment was low: the countries of Southern Europe are in the worst position from this point of view, while Hungary, like other countries in the region, managed to show an unemployment rate of around 3 percent in the quarter.

Opportunities for the unemployed will improve

The annual unemployment rate in Hungary in 2021 was slightly higher than the 3.3 percent measured in the second quarter of 2022, as 4.05 percent was added to the data release. The OECD’s latest data measuring long-term unemployment indicates exactly this 4.05 percent of the unemployed – statistically, 31.2 percent of them are long-term unemployed. The number declined steadily between 2016 and 2019, but has since stagnated, presumably in part due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite all this, if we look at the unemployment situation in Hungary internationally, we can see that the proportion of people stuck in long-term unemployment is lower compared to the EU average and compared to many V4 countries. – Based on the OECD methodology, this means that victims are more likely than not to find work in 12 months. Regionally, the situation was better in Poland, while in Slovakia 56.6 percent of the unemployed struggled with this problem in 2021.

To whom, how much is your work worth…

With the help of data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, we also compared wage levels across individual countries. The 38-member OECD released new wage data from 34 countries through 2021. In fact, there were only three countries in the year where wages were lower than Hungary: Greece, Slovakia and Mexico – which of course means that the average annual salary in 30 OECD countries is higher than the domestic level of $26,268. At the dollar exchange rate at the time, approximately HUF 7.9 million. In the interest of accuracy, according to the OECD method, average wages were calculated by dividing total wage costs based on national accounts by the average number of employees in the economy and then multiplying this. Average weekly working hours of a full-time employee plus the ratio of his weekly working hours to the average of all employees.

Our graph, which looks back 10 years, also provides an opportunity to calculate the rate of wage growth. Our table clearly shows that

Between 2011 and 2021, Hungary’s average salary, while above the overall OECD average, rose by 17.9 percent, below the average of other V4 countries, a commonly used benchmark for comparing Hungary’s standard of living. .

All in all, all the government reports asserting that the pace of domestic wage increases is pending seem to be false, as only regional competitors were at least 5 percent higher than the rate of domestic wage increases, while the salaries of adults over the same period. Friendly Poles rose twice as fast as Hungarians in 10 years.