Hungarian labour market in extreme lack of workforce

By now every sector is affected by the shortage of workforce in the Hungarian labour market. Although KSH (Central Statistical Office) measured the gap to be 80,000 people, in reality, the number of unfilled jobs can be much more depending on the sector according to Portfolio.hu’s analysis.

What is the problem?

„The absence of skilled workforce represents an increasing problem in every sector of the Hungarian economy. Sectors such as the construction industry, catering industry and tourism are in the worst situation where finding and retaining skilled employees means a daily problem” – says Rolek Ferenc, deputy of national business association MGYOSZ, on the one hand.

On the other hand, the leader of a recruitment process outsourcing company Randstad claims to have less skilled workers than necessary in the labour market currently.

He stresses the importance of skills and training, as there are many workers in unsuitable companies without the necessary competences.

Which sectors are most affected?

Robotisation might be an answer to the increasing problem of labour force shortage in the processing industry – there are around 100-200,000 jobs to be filled by the missing skilled workers. The lack of workforce is not only a problem of GDP but also detains companies from more production.

Another highly affected sector is the construction industry, where 30-40,000 workers would be needed. Following the economic crisis, skilled workers that spoke several languages left the country to work abroad.

For this reason, there are several construction projects that will be delayed due to the lack in labor force.

In the service industry, sub-sectors and branches are affected in various ways. The information-communication branches and administrative sub-sectors experienced a solid increase in the number of unfilled jobs. In the administrative sector, the ratio of unfilled jobs reaches 4.7%, the highest in all industries.

Although salaries and compensation packages have become more beneficial for those working in the IT sector, there is still a considerable amount of unfilled jobs due to the high number of multinational companies’ new positions in Hungary.

Similarly, tourism and the catering industry also suffers from more than 20,000 missing workers. It is not only small pubs that are affected but also high-end hotels, to be sharpened by the rise of the Airbnb industry and its needs for new employees. By now the catering industry suffers from insufficiency of workers in every area: it is almost impossible to find receptionists, servers, chefs or salesman, most probably due to emigration.

There are pubs or small restaurants that have been forced to close down because of this shortage of workforce.

What is there to do?

As the shortage of workers endangers economic growth, employers must find a solution to win back skilled manforce. There are several measures to be taken regarding the efficiency of all sectors, retraining of workers, importing workers from abroad, as well as inclusive education programs for Romas. It is only with these combined steps that the situation in which companies find themselves will improve.

Featured image: MTI

Source: Portfolio.hu