Labour shortage: retraining fostered workers?

As we already wrote, labour shortage causes serious problems in Hungary hindering economic growth. Companies report about thousands or, in some cases, tens of thousands of open positions – according to Világgazdaság. Thus, finding a solution seems vital for firms. As a result, some try to retrain fostered workers employed by the government and paid less than minimum wage. In the other hand, a complex solution might be Jobbik’s wage union initiation.

Labour shortage critical: abilities matter, not qualifications

Retraining people to shortage occupations is becoming more and more urgent. Ildikó Szűts, head of the Hungarian Association for People Management stated that they take into consideration

only the abilities, not the qualifications of the people

enrolled in their ‘on the job’ project. If somebody has the needed skills they can learn daily routine soon, even if they have a very different occupation – she added. Furthermore, it is hard to find an occupation not struggling with labour shortage in Hungary. For example, she heard that the employees of a company supporting car industry must meet only one condition.

They are hired, if they have two hands, two legs and they can talk.

Labour shortage perceptible in all sectors

According to Szűts, fostered workers might be retrained to skilled workers by their ‘on the job’ program. As a result, they could ease labour shortage in commerce and water utility management.

In addition, lack of cooks and waiters caused serious problems during the summer period in the restaurants of Lake Balaton. Furthermore, health care system has been struggling with too few doctors and nurses for years. According to Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO), there were at least 7 thousand unfilled positions in health care. To make matters worse,

processing industry was missing 20 thousand people during summer.

The president of the Hungarian Baker Association stated that at least 3 thousand bakers are missing along with butchers. Furthermore, official statistics do not always correspond to real data. For example, there are 3 thousand unfilled jobs in the construction industry according to HCSO. However, president of the National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors states that they are missing at least 10 thousand skilled workers.