Trenkwalder: The average hourly wage for physical workers will approach 2,300 forints by the end of 2025

“Last year, the rate of wage growth among manual workers slowed down significantly: the increase in double digits in the previous year decreased to a level below 8 percent by 2025. At the same time, this value still ensured a real wage increase of 3-4 percent in this segment

– said Viktor Hamrák, service director of Trenkwalder.

It also represents a difference compared to the previous ones that the wage increases implemented at the beginning of last year were only sporadically continued during the year: compared to the first quarter’s 2,250 forints, it had barely changed by the end of the year the national average of the gross hourly wage. The change will only take place now, following the wage increases implemented at the same time as the minimum wage increase, and we expect the average rate of increases to be 6-7 percent this year among blue-collar workers.”

By the end of 2025, only two regions: Northern Hungary and Southern Transdanubia will have the average hourly wage below 2,000 forints. Two regions also stand out the most from the average: in Central Transdanubia, workers can typically expect an hourly wage of around 2,500 forints, while in Central Hungary, which also includes Budapest, it has already passed the 3,000 forint level.

Moore Hungary examined the salary data of nearly 500 middle managers working at the domestic subsidiaries of more than 60 international companies at the same time. For employees working in the monthly gross salary range between 800 thousand and 1.2 million forints, the salary increase in the fourth quarter of 2025 was an average of 7.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

“The wage increase among intellectual middle managers also exceeded 7 percent last year. It seems that in the current economic situation, this rate was sufficient to retain the workforce in this segment: the fluctuation remained very low, at 1.5 percent, both on the exit and entry sides

 – explained Péter Hajnal, managing partner of Moore Hungary.

We expect that this year, the wages of middle managers will increase by 5.5-6 percent, which could result in a real wage increase of a few percent.”

According to data from Moore Hungary, the average wage increase for middle managers of business service centers (BSCs), which already employ more than 60 thousand people nationwide, reached 9 percent last year, compared to 5.3 percent the previous year. All this is also reflected in the positive fluctuation values: the entry turnover increased from 3.5 to 5.4 percent in 12 months, while the exit rate fell to a low of 0.8 percent.