The last two years were typified by companies aiming to retain physical workforce, with a skilled laborer paid 19% more than someone in office administration, a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal says.

Three out of ten respondents believe that one could earn more money as a skilled labor than in an office job, with 38% seeing no relevant difference between the perceived salaries. White collar jobs are still ahead in terms of recognition, with only 15% believing that blue collar workers are better recognized by society. However, one-third believe that there is no significant difference in terms of recognition.

According to profession.hu, the trend is a result of several companies paying special attention to keeping their blue collar workers in 2017 and 2018. In its “Global HR” survey in 2011, only 24% of companies raised salaries for this reason, while in 2017, 57% did.

Last year, 39% of companies raised the salary of physical workers once, and 23% did so twice. Thus far this year, half of the companies questioned have raised blue collar salaries once, and 14% twice. Due to the high fluctuation rates, there is good reason to raise pay, the press release says, as more than 90% of manual workers plan on changing not only jobs, but fields as well.

According to profession.huʼs data, on average administrators, professional assistants, document managers, and personal assistants receive salaries 19% lower than a manual worker.