László Perlusz: a maximum 10 percent minimum wage increase is possible by 2026

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 10. 21. 11:13

🎧 Hallgasd a cikket: Nyelv: Sebesség: 1.05×

The reserves of businesses are running out, and financing daily operations is also becoming an increasingly challenging task – warned László Perlusz, Secretary General of the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ) in an interview with Mfor. He said that in this situation, the new SME loan with a fixed interest rate of 3 percent of the Széchenyi Card Program, which has been available for current account and liquidity purposes since October, is particularly important.

According to the VOSZ, domestic small and medium-sized enterprises will have to wait another year for economic recovery. Instead of the government’s previous growth forecast of over 3 percent, GDP growth is expected to be only half a percent this year, while orders and sales revenues are also decreasing. In the past three years, about a thousand joint ventures have disappeared from the market every month.

According to the VOSZ Barometer survey, only 20–25 percent of Hungarian companies currently see a market opportunity that would be worth investing in – compared to 70–80 percent in the United States.

Regarding next year’s minimum wage negotiations, Perlusz emphasized that the three-year wage agreement concluded last year must be reopened. Most companies could manage a maximum increase of 6–7 percent, but the upper limit could be 9–10 percent if the government reduces the social contribution tax by 1 percentage point (from 13 to 12 percent).

The situation is more complicated in the case of the guaranteed minimum wage, but according to VOSZ, real wage growth is expected there as well. The Secretary General is confident that the renewed wage agreement can be reached by November and that a compromise will be reached that creates a balance between employee expectations and the carrying capacity of enterprises.