We have to remark that employees working in the private sector gave on average lower wages than those working in the public sector. Nevertheless, this phenomenon coincides with the data of the national statistical office: in the second quarter of 2006 the average gross wage was 182000 forint in the public sector and 157000 forint in the private sector. Although the average wage declared by respondents in our research was on average lower, our data concerning the direction of the difference between the private and public sector is consistent with official data.
This phenomenon on the one hand, can be due to the fact that respondents hided the real amount of their wages, on the other hand to the practice employed in the private sector that employees get only part of their wages as officially announced income (after which they pay tax) and they get the other part into their purse, to their own account or they get it as different kinds of contributions. Because of this, we have to handle our observations about differences between private and public sector wages with reservation.