The period ahead of us and 2017 will be about pay rises, too, Csaba Dömötör stated on Sunday in Budapest.
The Minister of State at the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister said at his press conference: the Government would like to show its appreciation to those who contribute to the advancement of Hungary „with their dedication and hard work” day after day with the pay rises. He highlighted: the scope for pay rises is created by the fact that the Hungarian economy now stands on solid foundations and is on a course of growth, inflation is low, the deficit of the budget is under control, and the sovereign debt is on the decrease. At the same time, compared with 2010, more than 500,000 more people are in employment, and therefore the Government is able to launch gradual pay rise programmes in line with the increased capacity of the economy, the politician added.
Mr Dömötör highlighted that wages have also increased in Hungary in recent periods: compared with the corresponding period of the year before, during the period between January-April 2016 pre-tax wages increased by 6.1 per cent, while after-tax wages increased by 7.8 per cent. As he said: during the period ahead, members of the law enforcement agencies, those working in government and district offices, judicial workers, teachers, higher education workers, crèche teachers, social workers, civil servants working in culture and health care workers can all expect higher salaries.
According to the information of the Minister of State, law enforcement workers will receive a 50 per cent pay rise, compared with last year, up to 2018. The pay of the employees of district offices will increase as of 1 July, while those working in the government offices may expect higher salaries as of 1 January 2017. This programme will extend to 32,000 people in total, and the Government has allocated HUF 42 billion for the purpose. He mentioned as an example that the salary of an administrator with eight years completed in the service will increase from HUF 129,000 at present to HUF 195,000. A degreed senior administration officer working in a district office who has been in employment for 30 years may take home HUF 369,000 in the future instead of today’s pay of HUF 301,000.
The salaries of those working for the National Tax and Customs Administration and judicial workers will also increase by 5 per cent as of October this year, and by another 5 per cent in each of the next two years, Mr Dömötör said.
Bence Rétvári, Minister of State at the Ministry of Human Capacities said that people working with the needy and children, too, will be able to benefit from the results of the country’s economic growth. Regarding health care, as a major step forward next year, the resources allocated to the sector will rise by half a per cent of GDP, some HUF 171 billion, which means that HUF 82.1 billion more will be available for pay rises as well. As a result, specialist physicians and pharmacologists may receive a pay rise of HUF 107,000 as of September this year, and another HUF 100,000 as of next November, he listed.
Parallel with these increases, the salaries of nurses will increase by 65 per cent on average over a period of four years, and this represents a 26.5 per cent pay rise this year, he added. 41 per cent extra funding has been provided for the excess remuneration of those working in basic health care since 2010, and this process will continue. General practitioners will receive HUF 10 billion excess funding, while health visitors and dentists, too, will in each group have access to extra funding worth HUF 2 billion. This will represent a pay rise of HUF 30,000-35,000 monthly in the case of health visitors, and HUF 50,000-55,000 in the case of dentists, the Minister of State indicated.
He further mentioned as an example that the increase provided represents a HUF 104,000 pay rise in the case of an assistant anaesthesiologist with 18 years of practice, while a specialist nurse may take home HUF 80,000 to 90,000 more. The pay of crèche teachers with tertiary qualifications has already been raised, and this time an extra allocation of 1.5 billion has been made for those working in crèches with secondary qualifications, he added.
He also stressed that the pay of teachers will increase by 3.5 per cent this year and also next year, representing an extra HUF 38 billion this year, and an extra HUF 45 billion next year. The salaries of those who do not have teacher qualifications will also increase.
Both a sector-specific allowance and a pay supplement have been approved for social workers in the last few years, amounting to a monthly excess of HUF 45,000 in the case of a family care worker with a college degree, and they may expect further increases in the next few years as well. Culture workers will receive a 15 per cent pay rise, the Minister of State said. Finally, he stressed that pay rises are ongoing also in higher education. People working in higher education will receive a 5 per cent pay rise both this year and next year, Mr Rétvári listed.