There is a significant labour shortage in the Southern Great Plain region

The demand is huge for welders, machine cutters, but forklift drivers, seamstresses and electricians are also wanted in the area – Press Release

The labour market of the Southern Great Plain region suffered significantly from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, and the unemployment rate temporarily rose sharply during its first waves. However, in the last two quarters of 2021 a rearrangement was experienced, resulting in labour shortage in the region in several areas. There is a great demand for skilled workers, especially in the food- and heavy industry and also for skilled manual workers. The automotive sector has recoiled due to the global semiconductor shortage, but the industry is also expected to recover significantly in the first half of this year, which is likely to create further labour demand in the Southern Great Plain region, according to the Regional Manager of WHC Group.

WHC Group, being the largest Hungarian-owned HR service provider in the country, specializes primarily in temporary staffing and recruitment. The company serves its regional customers from its own local offices. WHC serves its partners located in Csongrád-Csanád and Békés counties from Szeged, and Bács-Kiskun and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok counties from Kecskemét.

Therefore, WHC has a direct and significant insight into the labour market processes in the region. “In our experience, the service and the automotive industries have suffered the most from the pandemic in terms of the labour market. In Csongrád-Csanád county, as an area strongly building on services, significant layoffs were made in the hospitality sector, for example. The manufacturing industry, on the other hand, provided an opportunity for dismissed workers almost immediately, as demand for the products of several, such as chemical companies, increased – precisely because of the pandemic, which required significant labour force. In Bács-Kiskun and Békés counties, due to the global semiconductor shortage, some redundancies were made in the automotive industry in the second and third quarters of 2021. However, the sector is expected to recover in the first half of this year,” highlighted Márk Bajkán, Regional Manager of WHC Group, responsible for Csongrád-Csanád and Békés counties.

According to the experience of WHC, the number of unemployed increased significantly in the whole region in the second quarter of 2020, which peaked in the first quarter of 2021: the rate of the unemployed in the population has roughly doubled from the level of a year earlier. “After the peak, a decline began, and by the third quarter of 2021, the situation was beginning to normalize. In Csongrád-Csanád county, for example, the unemployment rate of 4.9% at the beginning of the year fell to less than half, to 2.4%,” explains the manager of the Szeged office.

In the region, heavy industry and agriculture dominates, while in Szeged knowledge-intensive industries do

Examining the general labour market characteristics of the Southern Great Plain region, it can be seen that the automotive industry and its suppliers, and companies operating in the plastics, metal and electronics industries provide the most jobs. Within this, in Csongrád-Csanád county the light industry and the service sector are the main employers. Although Békés county can be considered primarily an agricultural area from an economic point of view, the active age population still works mostly in the manufacturing industry.

“A strong labour market factor in the region is the labour absorption of seasonal agricultural work from other sectors, which can lead to a significant reorganization of the labour market at different times of the year, such as during the cresting or harvest period,” added Márk Bajkán.

Within the region, Szeged has special features, as compared to other towns, it is not the heavy industry which dominates the economy, but the so-called “diversified knowledge-intensive” industry. In addition to the spread of Shared Service Centers (SSCs) for multinational companies, the IT sector is gaining ground in the city as well. The largest employer in the city is the University of Szeged.