Employers offered to raise the monthly minimum wage from HUF 71,500 to HUF 73,000 next year at a Friday meeting of the National Interest Coordination Council (OET), a forum for employers, unions and the government, but unions said they wanted an increase to HUF 78,000, albeit lower than their earlier demand for HUF 80,000.
Ferenc David, chief secretary of business association VOSZ, said employers thought any increase in the minimum wage guaranteed to skilled workers from the current HUF 87,500 was unacceptable. Unions asked for a rise to HUF 91,000, saying that a fall in real wages — calculating with 4.1pc average annual inflation in 2010 — would be unacceptable.