Expert: hourly wages for seasonal jobs are 10-20% higher than for permanent jobs

These are the year-end seasonal hit jobs

The “year-end rush” is especially true in the fields of trade, tourism and logistics: shopping malls, shops, webshops, catering establishments and event venues are simultaneously struggling with increased traffic and the workforce lost due to the Christmas holidays. Companies therefore need to fill the missing staff in a short time to meet customer needs and order backlogs – which is typically solved by involving students.

According to Mind-Diák’s experience, the most common seasonal student jobs include positions related to stocking, cashiering and product preparation. In addition, several jobs specifically related to the holiday season are also appearing, such as gift wrapping, selling Christmas trees, and hostessing at events and shopping malls. Due to the increased online orders, delivery and courier jobs are also in high demand during the holiday months.

“We see that employers are increasingly involving retired employees in addition to students, especially in sales positions, where the reliability and customer management routine of older people are considered a key value”

– highlights Róbert Göbl, head of the Mind-Diák Szövetkezet. He adds: the demand for labor for administrative and telephone background work related to the end-of-year promotions of webshops and sales departments is also increasing significantly; these tasks are also primarily performed by part-time students or retirees.

It’s worth stopping by: seasonal jobs offer hourly wages of up to 2,500 forints during the holiday season

However, the strong demand for seasonal “stop-in” jobs is not only experienced on the employer side: employees are also consciously looking for these short-term opportunities. This is partly due to the fact that many people want to earn a quick, additional income before the holidays, and students are also more available to work during the winter break. According to data from the Mind-Diák Cooperative, during the end-of-year season, the remuneration of occasional, seasonal jobs is typically 10-20% higher than that of permanent, fixed positions available during the rest of the year.

In cooperative employment – ​​including in the case of student and pensioner jobs – the hourly wage is the basis for settlement. The statutory minimum is currently 1,672 forints per hour, and the guaranteed minimum wage is 2,005 forints per hour for jobs that require a high school diploma or vocational qualification. In most cases, the basic hourly wage for seasonal jobs reaches 1900-2000 forints, and performance-related bonuses can result in an average hourly wage of around 2500 forints. In addition, students under 25 receive the same amount on both a gross and net level due to the exemption from personal income tax.

Tax-free alternative for Christmas staffing

“Since seasonal casual work is often limited to a fixed period of time – for example, 3-4 days or a few weeks – student and pensioner cooperatives always indicate hourly wages in job advertisements. This way, the young person or pensioner who takes on the job knows exactly what salary they can expect before applying. This significantly shortens the recruitment process and leads to fewer unpleasant surprises than when the applicant is only confronted with the offered salary in the last round of interviews”

– emphasizes Róbert Göbl. He emphasizes that this arrangement is also beneficial for companies in several respects, since students and pensioners employed through a school or pensioner cooperative only have to be paid for the hours worked. There are no additional costs for holidays or sick leave, and all employment administration, payroll, and declarations are handled by the cooperatives. This allows companies to expand their workforce during the holiday season without incurring tax and contribution burdens, which significantly reduces the burden on HR and finance teams.

National Student Wage Survey

In addition to managing seasonal labor demand, companies also plan their wage strategy for the following year during this period. Due to the EU wage transparency directive, which will come into force in 2026, wage bands that are aligned with market conditions will be announced.