Despite the pandemic situation, foreign employment agencies are looking for cheap Hungarian labour with great effort, offering their support not only in tests, but also in travel and accommodation. Animal caretakers, construction workers and packers are needed for short or long term.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been felt around the world; many businesses have gone bankrupt, and millions of people have lost their jobs. Unfortunately, Hungary is not an exception either; hundreds of thousands lost their jobs due to COVID-19.
The number of members of Hungarian households working abroad shrank by 27,000 in one year. This is obviously due to the border closure and the collapse of tourism, which forced many Hungarians working abroad to return home. In the winter months before the virus reached Europe, 115,600 were still working abroad with their families living at home, but in the spring their numbers dropped to 92,500. In the summer, after the restrictions were lifted, more than 100,000 people were able to work abroad again, but in the autumn this number fell to the spring level again – reported by Népszava.
However, notwithstanding the pandemic, foreign job opportunities recruiting Hungarian labour force have not entirely disappeared from the market.
As the Hungarian news portal Pénzcentrum reports, advertisements seek for Hungarians speaking a little English, for short or long term employment. Accommodation is provided free of charge, and the organisation of the trip is promised to be supported. Advertisers offer registered jobs in Denmark, with an immediate start. As they write: “Working abroad and travelling is possible despite COVID!”.
The ads offer the following options:
- pig farmers in a Danish farm;
- animal caretakers for dairy or chicken farms;
for a monthly salary of 1,246 EUR.
But they are also looking for skilled construction workers, either in the short or long term. Specialised education is not a condition; an hourly wage of 7-8 euros can be expected. In the Netherlands, a warehouse worker is expected to pack and sort goods. “The job is suitable for both men and women, graduates, high school and college students alike” – according to the advertisement that offers a salary between 11.5 and 14.32 euros/hour
which is more than twice the monthly average salary of a fresh graduate in Hungary.
Even though working abroad has lost its popularity as a result of the pandemic, it seems that foreign employers have not given up on attracting the cheap Eastern European labour force by offering dream salaries to them.
Source: penzcentrum.hu; nepszava.hu
