Budapest wages on par with... Bucharest

By Adrian Courage

For once, you can be forgiven for mixing up the Hungarian and Romanian capitals as a report by global financial firm UBS reveals that Budapest wages are on the same level as those in much maligned city of Bucharest. Worse still, only workers in Sofia, Bulgaria earn less money, writes index.hu. Budapest wages are just 16% of those in New York, while living expenses are 42% of those in the American city. Wages in Prague, Bratislava and Warsaw are considerably higher than those in Budapest at between 20% to 30% of those in New York, the city used as a basis for the comparison. Meanwhile, living expenses including rents are much closer to the average in Budapest, clocking in at 41.8% of those in New York, roughly matching other countries in the region. Of course, what the report doesn't mention is the wages used in the comparison may not reflect what wheeler-dealing Budapesters actually earn.

News reprinted from All Hungary Newsletter August 27, 2009

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