In the first half of 2005, gross wages increased by 10.9%, while net wages grew by 11.6% year on year. Real wages were up 7.6% in the January-June period. According to the "regular payment index," (a figure excluding the effects of bonus and other one-off payments) wages rose 7.3% in the business and 7.8% in the budgetary sector in June on the year.
In a breakdown by industry, gross wages were lowest in the textile industry (HUF 85,074) at under 50% of the national average, while employees by far earned best in the financial sector (HUF 352,968), receiving over twice the average Hungarian employee's wages.
The size of Hungary's workforce was 2.784 million in the January–June period, the same as a year ago. The competitive sector employed 1.975 million workers in the first half, while public institutions had 808,500 employees - the former is 0.3% higher than a year earlier, while the latter shows a decline of 1.3% due to continued cuts in headcount, KSH noted.
