Governmental efforts to raise the minimum wage to the level of the guaranteed minimum wage

The minimum wage (statutory minimum wage) is the amount that an employer must pay to an employee for his/her work, in any case of a full-time job. Guaranteed minimum wage is also considered as a type of minimum wage for jobs requiring at least secondary education or secondary vocational qualifications, hence it is always a higher amount. The Hungarian Government sets out the amount of minimum wage and guaranteed minimum wage every year. In 2024 the minimum monthly wage is HUF 266,800 (~ EUR 675), while the guaranteed minimum wage is HUF 326,000 (~ EUR 825).

The Government has been planning for some time to abolish the dual system of minimum wage and guaranteed minimum wage by increasing the lowest wages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that the aim is to increase the minimum wage by 50% of the average wage of the previous year by 2027. The focus of the Government for the next years is to bring and maintain the amount of the minimum wage up to the amount of guaranteed minimum wage.

The topic of minimum wage has long arisen in EU politics. The EU has introduced new rules to promote the introduction of an adequate minimum wage among the Member States in order to improve working and living conditions for European workers. According to the EU directive on minimum wages, Member States must ensure that regular and timely updates of statutory minimum wages take place at least every two years. The directive also ensures the effective involvement of social partners in statutory minimum wage setting and updating, therefore, each Member State shall designate or establish one or more consultative bodies to advise the competent authorities on issues related to statutory minimum wages, and shall enable the operational functioning of those bodies. It is important that nothing in the directive shall be construed as imposing an obligation on Member States to introduce variations of statutory minimum wages. Thus, the EU does not require a specific amount of minimum wage among Member States in respect of the subsidiarity principle.

The Government has already begun and will continue the discussions with the major trade unions about the restructuring of the dual minimum wage system, however, it is expected to persist for several months.