Economy
Hungarian retail chain to keep stores closed on Mondays due to wage hike
Small stores in small communities are being crushed by the wage hike and are unable to collect enough revenue to cover the raise, Szőke said.
COOP employs 30,00 people but would need about 3,000 more. Several stores can only deal with the labour shortage by not opening on Mondays, Szőke said.
It is not surprising that Hungarian-owned stores have been hit hardest, as foreign-owned retail chains have more capital and higher efficiency, and can react better to the labour shortage. While small stores are unable to even make the required minimum wage raise, multinationals are offering gross wages of up to HUF 300,000 a month.
It was to be expected that the repeated raising of the minimum wage and guaranteed wage minimum last year and in 2018 would put domestic companies in a tight spot, and further businesses may well run into trouble as the lowest wages rise.
As a result, the combined effects of the labour shortage and the mandatory wage hikes is putting small domestic stores and chains under pressure, in contrast with the government’s unstated goal of propping up Hungarian-owned businesses.
COOP employs 30,00 people but would need about 3,000 more. Several stores can only deal with the labour shortage by not opening on Mondays, Szőke said.
It is not surprising that Hungarian-owned stores have been hit hardest, as foreign-owned retail chains have more capital and higher efficiency, and can react better to the labour shortage. While small stores are unable to even make the required minimum wage raise, multinationals are offering gross wages of up to HUF 300,000 a month.
It was to be expected that the repeated raising of the minimum wage and guaranteed wage minimum last year and in 2018 would put domestic companies in a tight spot, and further businesses may well run into trouble as the lowest wages rise.
As a result, the combined effects of the labour shortage and the mandatory wage hikes is putting small domestic stores and chains under pressure, in contrast with the government’s unstated goal of propping up Hungarian-owned businesses.
