Hungary’s minimum wage for 2027, due to change on 1 January 2027, still has no number. At the first round of talks on 20 October 2026, employers offered a 4% rise for both the minimum wage and the guaranteed wage minimum for skilled roles, while the unions, speaking through the MASZSZ confederation, asked for 14%. No agreement was reached, and as of 26 October no government decree exists.

This year the gross figure may matter less than the tax rate applied to it. The Tisza government has announced, but not yet legislated, a cut in personal income tax (SZJA) on the minimum wage from 15% to 9% from 1 January 2027. If the employers’ 4% offer and the 9% rate both happen, take-home pay on the minimum wage would rise by about 13%, while the employer’s cost would rise by about 4%.

The reporting on the talks does not say how many people earn exactly the minimum wage. The government says its tax change alone would let almost 2.5 million employees keep more of their pay. Below, every 2027 figure is presented as a scenario (4%, 8% and 14%, each with and without the tax cut), alongside what it costs employers and who gains least.

1. Where the 2027 minimum wage stands, and who it covers

Today’s floor is set by Government Decree 426/2025 (XII. 23.). From 1 January 2026 the minimum wage (minimálbér) for full-time work is HUF 322,800 a month, or HUF 1,856 an hour. The guaranteed wage minimum (garantált bérminimum), which applies to jobs requiring at least secondary education or a secondary vocational qualification, is HUF 373,200 a month, or HUF 2,145 an hour. Both are single national amounts with no regional rates, and they cover every employer and employee. For part-time work, the monthly, weekly and daily amounts shrink in proportion to hours, while the hourly rate applies as set.

The legal basis is section 153 of Hungary’s Munka Törvénykönyve (labour code, Act I of 2012). It lets the government set both minimums by decree after consulting the National Economic and Social Council and the forum it designates, in practice the VKF (Versenyszféra és a Kormány Állandó Konzultációs Fóruma, the standing consultation forum of the private sector and the government). Both amounts must be reviewed every calendar year.

Why the deadlock? A three-year wage agreement signed in the VKF in November 2024 pencilled in a 14% minimum wage rise for 2027, with the goal of bringing the minimum wage to half of the gross average earnings expected for that year. The 2026 and 2027 steps were conditional, though: if wages, GDP and inflation together strayed more than one percentage point from forecast, the parties would renegotiate. The 2026 step was already cut from 13% to 11%. After the VKF session on 25 September 2026, Minister of Social and Family Affairs Vilmos Kátai-Németh wrote that the agreement must be reviewed because macroeconomic conditions had changed.

Employers lean on growth data. The MGYOSZ employers’ federation, spokesman for the employer side, said the 2024 deal assumed far stronger growth than materialised: GDP was essentially flat over 2023 to 2025, with 1.8% expected in 2026. MGYOSZ board member Ákos Kalmár called a double-digit rise unrealistic and argued that 4% plus the tax cut would still mean a 13% net increase for those affected.

Unions see it differently. Róbert Zlati, president of MASZSZ, called the first round disheartening and recalled that the agreement had fixed 14%. Zsolt Kozma, president of the Munkástanácsok confederation, said a 4% rise would leave the minimum wage further behind and make the shared 50% goal impossible. Unions also stress that the tax cut is paid for by the budget, meaning taxpayers, not employers. In the Munkástanácsok confederation’s words (translated from Hungarian), a tax credit can be “an important tool” for raising low earners’ net income “but cannot replace” the gross minimum wage rise employers commit to.

Government sources, as reported by Pénzcentrum on 23 October, denied backing either side and said the aim is a realistic compromise that matches the economy’s capacity. An 8% compromise has been floated informally, but it would need both sides to give ground.

2. The maths: net pay and employer cost in six scenarios

In 2026 a minimum-wage employee pays 18.5% social security contribution (TB járulék) and 15% SZJA, and the employer adds 13% social contribution tax (szocho). On HUF 322,800 gross, that leaves HUF 214,662 net and a total employer cost of HUF 364,764 a month, according to the Budapest Capital Government Office’s 2026 table.

Applying the same contribution rates to 2027, here is what each proposal would mean on the minimum wage (wherewework calculations based on the official 2026 rates, assuming TB and szocho stay unchanged):

• 4% rise (employers’ offer): gross HUF 335,712. Net HUF 223,248 at 15% SZJA (+4.0%), or HUF 243,391 with the 9% rate (+13.4%). Employer cost HUF 379,355 (+4.0%).
• 8% rise (informal compromise): gross HUF 348,624. Net HUF 231,835 at 15% (+8.0%), or HUF 252,752 at 9% (+17.7%). Employer cost HUF 393,945 (+8.0%).
• 14% rise (unions’ demand): gross HUF 367,992. Net HUF 244,715 at 15% (+14.0%), or HUF 266,794 at 9% (+24.3%). Employer cost HUF 415,831 (+14.0%).

Note that 14% today means HUF 367,992, not the HUF 374,600 the original agreement targeted, because the 2026 base was renegotiated down.

The striking comparison sits between the first and third lines. A 4% raise with the 9% rate (HUF 243,391 net) delivers almost the same take-home pay as the full 14% raise without it (HUF 244,715). For the employer, though, the first adds HUF 14,591 a month per minimum-wage employee, the second HUF 51,067. That gap is the heart of the dispute: employers see the tax cut as doing the heavy lifting, while unions point out that the state, not the company, would be funding it. Without the tax cut, a 4% raise adds just HUF 8,586 to a monthly pay packet.

The tax cut on its own, with no raise at all, would lift minimum-wage net pay to HUF 234,030, about HUF 19,400 more a month. That matches the figure Prime Minister Péter Magyar gave Parliament on 19 October: roughly HUF 20,000 a month, or HUF 240,000 a year. Presenting the 2027 budget plan, he said (translated from Hungarian):

“One million people will have a single-digit personal income tax. For another one million people, tax will fall up to a salary of 680 thousand forints. Nobody’s tax on their work will increase.”

Finance Minister András Kármán added on 20 October, as reported by Portfolio, that the effect would be largest where wages start from the lowest level. One caveat runs through every figure above: the budget plan was announced before the detailed draft went to the Fiscal Council and Parliament, so the 9% rate is a policy promise, not yet law.

If your pay sits close to the minimum, it is worth seeing how your salary compares with what others in the same role earn. The rise gives you a reference point, but your role may already be paid above it.

3. Who gains least: under-25s, exempt mothers and skilled workers

The 9% rate only helps people who pay SZJA in the first place. Several groups on the minimum wage already pay none, so for them only the gross raise counts.

Under-25s. Workers under 25 pay no SZJA on employment income up to a monthly allowance of HUF 715,765 in 2026, and the government says they keep this exemption up to the average wage. On the minimum wage their net pay is already HUF 263,082 (gross minus 18.5% TB). A 4% raise lifts that to HUF 273,605, an 8% raise to HUF 284,129, a 14% raise to HUF 299,913. The tax cut adds nothing.

SZJA-exempt mothers. Since 1 January 2026, according to the tax authority NAV, every mother under 30 is exempt from SZJA on her whole employment income. Mothers of three or of four or more children are exempt, and two-child mothers gain the exemption in stages: under-40s from 2026, with under-50s scheduled from 2027. NAV reported that more than 140 thousand mothers of three had already claimed the exemption. From 2027 the government plans to cap the mothers’ exemption at HUF 1 million gross a month. A qualifying mother on the minimum wage faces the same arithmetic as an under-25: the gross raise is her entire gain.

Skilled workers on the guaranteed minimum. Employers offered 4% here too, which would take the guaranteed minimum from HUF 373,200 to HUF 388,128 and employer cost from HUF 421,716 to HUF 438,585. Without the tax cut, net pay would rise from HUF 248,178 to HUF 258,105. With it, the answer is unknown. The government says the rate falls in bands for incomes below HUF 680,000 and that everyone up to twice the gross minimum wage shares in the cut, but the taper has not been published. Tax adviser Zsuzsanna Junkertné dr. Szűcs notes that because the band is tied to the minimum wage, its upper limit cannot be fixed until the 2027 minimum is. No union figure for the guaranteed minimum has been reported.

Because the guaranteed minimum depends on the job’s education requirements, it is worth updating your CV so any secondary vocational qualification is clearly visible. At your next job interview, ask whether the base pay on offer is tied to the minimum wage or the guaranteed minimum, and how the employer plans to apply the January 2027 change.

Public works. Participants in public-works schemes (közfoglalkoztatás) have a separate, lower floor: in 2026, 50% of the minimum wage (HUF 161,400) and 50% of the guaranteed minimum (HUF 186,600) for roles requiring a vocational qualification.

4. How Hungary’s minimum wage got here

Data from KSH (Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office) show how fast the floor has moved. The monthly gross minimum wage was HUF 161,000 in 2020, HUF 167,400 from February 2021, HUF 200,000 in 2022 and HUF 232,000 in January 2023, followed by an extra rise to HUF 266,800 in December 2023. There was no rise at the start of 2024; it went to HUF 290,800 in 2025 and HUF 322,800 in 2026. That is roughly a doubling (+100.5%) in six years, while the guaranteed minimum rose 77.2%, from HUF 210,600 to HUF 373,200.

Measured against average pay, the gains were more modest. In the KSH series, the minimum wage stood at 41.1% of gross average earnings in 2020, 39.3% in 2021 and 39.9% in 2022, jumped to 46.7% after the December 2023 rise, and was back at 41.2% in 2025. That explains why the 50% goal is so central to the union case. The decree setting the 2025 rate states that it serves compliance with the EU’s adequate minimum wage directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2041).

Employers argue that the earlier path was always conditional. László Perlusz, secretary general of the VOSZ employers’ association, said (translated from Hungarian): “Everyone tends to remember only the outcome, that the minimum wage has to rise by 9, 13 and 14 percent. They forget that this had conditions.”

Before you weigh any offer next year, check salaries in Hungary for the roles you do or want, both entry-level positions near the minimum wage and skilled positions on the guaranteed minimum.

Conclusion: what to watch before 1 January 2027

Two decisions will shape 2027 pay: the gross rise agreed (or not) in the VKF and then fixed by government decree, and whether Parliament turns the announced 9% SZJA rate into law. A 4% raise with the tax cut would lift minimum-wage take-home pay by about 13% at a 4% cost to employers; without the cut, workers get 4% and nothing more. For HR teams, the prudent budget covers all three gross scenarios, with employer cost per minimum-wage employee ranging from HUF 379,355 to HUF 415,831 a month.

Once the decree and tax law are final, start from your gross salary and use a salary calculator to see what the change means for your net salary, especially if you are under 25, an exempt mother or on the guaranteed minimum, where the headline 13% does not apply.

If the outcome leaves your pay where it is, it may be a good moment to look at open jobs in your field.

FAQ: Hungary’s 2027 minimum wage

What is the minimum wage in Hungary in 2027?

It has not been set. The 2026 rate is HUF 322,800 gross a month. Employers have proposed 4% (HUF 335,712) and unions 14% (HUF 367,992); an 8% compromise (HUF 348,624) has been floated informally.

Will income tax on the minimum wage fall to 9%?

The Tisza government announced it for 1 January 2027 in its 2027 budget plan, but it has not yet been legislated.

How much would a minimum-wage worker take home in 2027?

Under a 4% raise, HUF 243,391 a month with the 9% rate or HUF 223,248 without it, compared with HUF 214,662 today. Under-25s and SZJA-exempt mothers would get HUF 273,605.

How much will a minimum-wage employee cost employers?

Assuming 13% szocho, HUF 379,355 a month at 4%, HUF 393,945 at 8% and HUF 415,831 at 14%, up from HUF 364,764 in 2026.

What happens to the guaranteed wage minimum?

It is HUF 373,200 in 2026. A 4% rise would take it to HUF 388,128. The net gain from the tax cut depends on a taper that has not been published yet.