MGYOSZ: Due to falling inflation, the pressure on employers to raise wages is expected to ease this year

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 02. 05. 11:28

Local and regional labor market trends and challenges were explored by the region’s most important economic players at the HR Fest professional event organized with the main support of WHC in Székesfehérvár.

The conference was opened by András Cser-Palkovics, the mayor of the county seat, who, in connection with the economic development of the region, drew attention to, among other things, the extremely low unemployment and the accompanying labor shortage. While Ferenc Rolek, the vice-president of the National Association of Employers and Manufacturers (MGYOSZ), pointed out that due to the drastic drop in inflation, the pressure on employers to raise wages is expected to ease this year, but the minimum wage will also increase by at least 10% due to an EU regulation , or above, will have to be raised, which may lead to tensions in the labor market.

The economy of Székesfehérvár and the wider region has undergone enormous development in the past decade, thanks to which many investments have arrived in the region, creating tens of thousands of new jobs. Thanks to this, after the economic difficulties and significant unemployment following the regime change, the region has now become one of the most economically developed regions of Hungary, which is home to many important multinational and domestically owned companies.

“After the regime change, with the collapse of the socialist industry, around 20,000 jobs were lost in Székesfehérvár. In comparison, thanks to the rapid economic development of the last decade, the unemployment rate has now dropped to just 2%, practically zero. As a result of technically full employment, the most pressing labor market challenge of the region, and otherwise of the entire country, is not unemployment, but labor shortage”

– András Cser-Palkovics, mayor of Székesfehérvár said, at the event.