Due to the government’s successfully handling of the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of employees in Hungary reached 4.7 million, of which 4.5 million are in the primary labor market, while the number of registered job seekers fell to an extremely low level of 260,000, State Secretary for Employment Sándor Bodó said on Thursday.
Bodó added that in the economic crisis caused by the emergency in Europe, there were two paths, one being that “every worker received a certain amount on some kind of normative basis and this was not subject to any conditions”.
He emphasized that Hungary had acted successfully, although it had not chosen this path, as the government had focused on providing employment, so all support was tied to the protection of jobs and the creation of jobs.
“The latest employment data has arrived: in June 2021, more people were working than ever before. We are working to keep it that way for a long time and to have a job for everyone who wants and can work,” State Secretary for Economic Strategy László György wrote in a social media post. The figures he shared show that the unemployed were largely absorbed by the primary labor market, i.e. new employment did not come from public work schemes.
According to the Bodó, in addition to the high number of employees, the constantly rising wages give stability to the economy. He added that according to the latest quarterly data, the average gross wage in Hungary was HUF 435,200 (€1,231). He also noted that since 2010, the minimum wage and the guaranteed minimum wage (the former relates to unskilled, while the latter to skilled labor), have more than doubled, and these have pushed other wages up as well.
The number of registered job seekers has reached a record low of 260,000, and the unemployment rate was 4 percent, compared with 12 percent when the current conservative government took over in 2010.
“We are predictable, we are after a series of labor market measures to deal with the crisis, I think we did well,” Bodó said, adding that now the country is experiencing “a period of job creation”.
The OECD also acknowledges the improvement of the Hungarian labor market. According to the OECD, the Hungarian economy is among the fastest to recover from the shock caused by the coronavirus epidemic, and by the end of 2022 the Hungarian unemployment rate will be the third lowest among the member states, while according to the Makronóm Institute it will be the second.
Title image: An Audi RS3 limousine rolls off the production line in Győr, Northwestern Hungary. (photo: Gábor Csordás)
