Real wages are rising, confidence is growing, retail sales are increasing

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 03. 31. 12:07

The dynamic increase in wages continued in January, Sándor Czomba, the State Secretary responsible for employment policy at the Ministry of National Economy (NGM), stated in his statement on Monday.

In his statement on Monday, he referred to the latest data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH), according to which the gross average wage increased to HUF 668,100 in January 2025. This means that compared to the same period of the previous year, the gross average wage increased by almost HUF 63,000, or 10.4 percent.

In January, the rate of real wage growth was 4.6 percent on an annual basis. Thanks to the favorable wage dynamics and the government’s measures to strengthen the purchasing power of salaries, real wages have been increasing continuously and significantly for 17 months, so families can also manage with more and more money, he pointed out.

The State Secretary responsible for employment policy highlighted that

the dynamic real wage increase is visibly starting to restore public confidence.

This is reflected in the expansion of retail sales, the revival of retail lending, the boom in the housing and car markets, and the fact that domestic tourism has had a flying start this year after the record year of 2024.

In addition to all this, employment remains high: compared to 2010, there are now 1 million more people working in Hungary, nearly 4.7 million, while the average wage has more than tripled and the minimum wage has quadrupled.

Sándor Czomba stressed that

the government is paying special attention to strengthening the poor and the middle class.