Closed because of labour shortage

As we already reported, Hungary struggles hard with labour shortage which affects almost every sector of the economy. In fact, commerce is among the most affected ones. The reason is simple: more and more work abroad for better wages. Therefore, multinational supermarket chains like Aldi decided to raise salary. However, it is more and more difficult hold their ground for food supply chains like Coop owning mostly small shops in the countryside. The situations of their shops in villages and small towns are especially bad because of the lack of workforce and purchasing power. Thus, many of their shops open only for a couple of hours during the whole week – according to index.hu.

Labour shortage cause serious problems

In fact, Coop has more than 5,000 shops countrywide, and it has the second biggest revenue after Tesco. Moreover, it has 30 thousand shop assistants, cashiers, stock associates and other employees altogether. Thus, it is one of the biggest employers in the sector having shops mostly in villages and small towns.

However, these shops close one after the other or reduce opening times.

The main reason is the labour shortage. Though the Hungarian economy and salaries are growing, there are huge inequalities between the different regions of Hungary. For example, purchasing power is not the same in Budapest and a small country village. Thus, salaries and consumption cannot be the same, as well. As a result, Coop does well big cities, but

their shops struggle for survival in small villages.

Government’s compulsory wage increase can be the finishing stroke

Coop is principally strong in small villages where people are poorer. In fact, these shops provide them with the only opportunity to buy what they need. Thus, their closure affects the most vulnerable social classes badly and reduces the population retention capacity of the villages.