The Hungarian minimum wage has increased enormously: the latest research by the price comparison site Money.co.uk reveals that the third largest increase in the minimum wage in the world took place in Hungary in the last decade, as the increase was almost 80 percent. The research received an international response: even a Greek, left-wing portal acknowledged the successful Hungarian measures, Mandiner reported.
analysis of the British portal , the biggest increase in the minimum wage took place in Lithuania, where the minimum wage increased by more than a hundred percent in the last decade: the Baltic state is the only country in the world that doubled its minimum wage in 10 years from 2.40 pounds to 4.87 pounds. The country is now in 17th place on the list showing the highest minimum wages.
Lithuania is followed by South Korea, where the minimum wage increased by 82 percent, and Hungary finished in third place: the portal points out that our country is the second European nation where one of the highest minimum wage increases took place: the minimum wage of 2.47 pounds in 2011 was more than increased by three-quarters, so Hungarian citizens can now receive much more than 4 pounds.
The Hungarian minimum wage in 2020 is higher than the Greek or Slovak minimum wage.
The next two places are occupied by two other V4 economies: Poland in fourth place and the Czech Republic in fifth place, which also experienced strong growth.
The research revealed that the level of the minimum wage in Hungary ranks tenth among the OECD member countries.
The portal adds that while the minimum wage has increased by more than 76 percent in ten years in Hungary,
the cost of living only increased by 25.7 percent, which is not considered high,
In Turkey, for example, the increase was 163 percent, and in Russia it was 86.7 percent.
Leftist praise
The left-wing Greek portal Efymerida ton Syntakton ( Authors' Journal ) - surprisingly - reported on the Hungarian and Polish minimum wage increases in an approving tone.
According to the analysis published on the portal, most of the ten countries with the highest minimum wage growth of the decade were initially (in 2010) recommended austerity policies by international organizations, so they should have followed the Greek wage policy, but in the end they rejected the austerity .
Shocking: only right-wing governments raised the real value of the minimum wage
"In the last 28 years, the purchasing power of the minimum wage increased during 16 years of right-wing government, and decreased during 12 years of left-wing government.
In Hungary, the right wing is interested in working Hungarians, the leftists only talk about them," writes László György in a Facebook post.
The left prefers to increase indebtedness
The economic policy before 2010 was closer to left-wing values in words and actions after 2010, at least as far as the evolution of minimum wages is concerned - Dániel Oláh analyzed the evolution of minimum wages in Makronómon in this article .
Why didn't the domestic left increase the real value of the minimum wage in the past decades, when it could have? In 2002, the Hungarian economy was considered the leader in the region, but the socialist governments did not build on this foundation, but rather increased the indebtedness: between 2002 and 2010, the ratio of the Hungarian public debt to the gross domestic product skyrocketed. It was also an unfavorable process from the point of view of public finances and Hungarian families, that even in the eight left-wing years it was not possible to achieve meaningfully increasing real wages, added the editor-in-chief of Makronóm.
The full article can be read HERE
Cover image: Money.co.uk
