Every third unemployed Hungarian would leave the country for work

Portfolio reports on a study conducted by Eurostat in 2016 which investigated the job mobility of young people, 20-34-year-old EU citizens. Results suggest that unemployed people show more willingness to change residence for a job, and one-third of the Hungarian participants would definitely leave the country for the prospect of a job.

Before the results are discussed in more detail, it is important to mention that the study’s Hungarian sample was small, and results need to be interpreted while considering this fact.

Photo: Eurostat

Half of the participating unemployed EU citizens (ages 20-34) would not change their residence for a job, 21% of them would change their residence within their country, and 12% would change residence and even move to another country within the boundaries of the EU. Only 17% of all of the participants showed a willingness to move somewhere outside of the EU.

45% of Hungarian respondents reported to be willing to move in order to get a new job, 16% of them would move to somewhere within Hungary while 29% would move abroad as well.

Unemployed people are more likely to move

Unemployed people showed the most motivation to change residence for a job opportunity. Half of the unemployed respondents said that they would indeed move for a job, 21% within their country, 12% within the EU and 17% would even move outside the EU.

Maltese people showed the least amount of mobility, 73% of the respondents said that they would not move for a new job. Malta was followed by the Netherlands (69%) and Cyprus (68%).

55% of the Hungarian participants said that they would not move residence for a new job.

The most mobile respondents were the Portuguese (71%), Swedish (66%) and Spanish (64%) respondents. 29% of the Hungarian respondents said that they would move abroad for a new job, 20% of them would move within the EU and only 9% would be willing to move outside the EU.

Results of the survey clearly show that participants with higher education showed more willingness to change residence for a new job. This is not surprising considering that speaking foreign languages is a necessity for working abroad.

Source: www.portfolio.hu