Companies in Hungary hunt for Philippines and Indonesians: they neither drink nor flee to the West

The core issue is simple: Hungarians are not available anymore since they go to work in Germany, Austria, and Western Europe for higher wages. However, industrial investments need a strong workforce, so importing Eastern guest workers is a must. But Vietnamese flee and head to the West within days, Kyrgyz guest workers drink too much, and Serbians and Ukrainians will not stay in Hungary either as they have better options. Phillippines and Indonesians are, on the other hand, welcome to work in Hungarian factories built by foreign investors.

Hungarians replaced by foreigners

PM Viktor Orbán and his cabinets have led harsh anti-migrant rhetoric since 2015, the peak of the migration crisis. They swarmed the country with hundreds or even thousands of billboards. All of them said that provided you come to Hungary, you cannot take the job of the Hungarians. Oddly, the tables have turned now and suddenly they welcome virtually everybody.

The reason is pretty simple in light of the fact that over a million Hungarians work abroad, which causes severe workforce shortages in the newly-built factories. Therefore, in the first step, the Hungarian government aimed for Serbians and Ukrainians to come to work in Hungary. However, the system collapsed after a couple of years since a new network was established that allowed these workers to find better, well-paid work opportunities in the West.

Therefore, the Hungarian government expanded the system to 19 countries, including Brazil, North Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Mongolia and the Philippines. The scheme is simple: 25 Hungarian companies are “licensed” to acquire the needed documents for the guest workers. Válasz Online suggests that at least some of them are government-close, and the business generates a solid and calculable profit.

Read also:

• Guest workers from third-world countries are flocking to Hungary – Read more HERE
• Hungarian government paves the way for hundreds of thousands of guest workers

Philippines and Indonesians will never be citizens

The intermediary Hungarian companies are the links between the companies, factories, plant owners operating in Hungary and in need of a workforce as well as and the Indonesian or Philippine headhunter firms sending out workers. However, Válasz Online learned years ago that Vietnamese guest workers had probably created an underground system that helped them escape within days after their first workday to continue their “career” in the West for more money. Meanwhile, the Philippines or Indonesians do not drink or fight with each other (unlike their Kyrgyz counterparts), nor do they flee abroad. Experts say they still need some years to create similar “people smuggling” systems as the Vietnamese did.

Theoretically, none of the guest workers can ever receive a Hungarian citizenship. They arrive, work for a few years and return home – that is the system. But some of them vanish forever in the Schengen zone. Válasz Online also clears that most of them come highly indebted because they must pay a huge sum (approx. EUR 2,500-3,500) to the local recruiting companies. Their salaries are not high in Hungary. But they regularly work overtime and have weak advocacy. Some even run a YouTube channel popularising what they do in Hungary. Here is one of them:

To sum up, companies investing in Hungary to erect huge production plants do not have a workforce. Government-close Hungarian companies help them find Philippines and Indonesians, who come here for work, and after two years, they return home. They always leave their families behind as they are well aware that there is no long-term future for them in Hungary. The biggest question is how long that system will work and whether that is a viable future for Hungary’s economy.

Automotive supplier GKN inaugurates plant in Hungary

Automotive industry supplier GKN inaugurated a plant in Felsőzsolca, in north-eastern Hungary, on Friday. The plant, the first phase of a HUF 52 billion (EUR 134,726,352.64) investment, will create 200 jobs, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said at the ceremony. The next phase will wind up by the end of 2026, creating 1,500 jobs, he added. GKN Automotive Hungary’s base will supply BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki and Volkswagen. The state is providing support for the investment, but the scale will not be announced until after it is cleared by the European Commission, Szijjártó explained.