I saw this a few days ago,
Real wages up 5.4% yr/yr in H1
I thought European integration was supposed to make everybody rich. Why is Hungary doing well and Slovakia isn't? Are their governments really different? Is the EU pouring money into Slovakia, like we do Mexico? I am very interested in knowing more.
Well, relating what I was recently told by a Slovak relative Slovakia was doing great up until the last election which returned the socialists back to power. That slowed foreign investment, therefore employment and wage growth. I think the sentiment towards Hungarians is more cultural as others have pointed out. One interesting point regarding their election of socialists was supposedly the EU was upset with the prior government due to the pace of economic development and growth and told them to slow down. That's what I was told at least.
Slovakia is a new member of the EU but is still on the Slovak currency. The exchange rate appears quite favorable to the Euro so that may be another means of attracting foreign investment. From what I understand with the new (old) socialist policies being enacted chances for new growth are diminishing rapidly. It almost sounded as if Slovakia was reverting to '70s-style Combloc socialism. The relative however is a foreign investment banker so she likely gave an overly pessimistic outlook. To hear her rant about socialists as "those stzhupid idiotsz" was amusing.