Employment in Hungary is at an all-time high, 4.5 million people worked in the third quarter of last year. Furthermore, the number of Hungarians employed in Austria broke the record last year, almost 100 thousand people worked there full time. Their numbers have grown significantly in recent years, but despite the new record, this seems to come to a halt.
The majority of Hungarian immigrants chose England or Germany, while 40% of Hungarian people who are employed in Austria commute on a daily basis. And by doing so, they can live on the higher Austrian wage in Hungary, reports G7.
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There are 112 thousand Hungarian workers in Austria, considering all employment forms.
This seems like a lot if we compare it to the 78 thousand unfilled jobs in Hungary, but Hungarians only account for 2.6% of the Austrian workforce. Still, they would be the easiest group to target with coming back to Hungary to work since 41 thousand of them live in Hungary.
But what holds them back? Well, the gap between Hungarian and Austrian minimum wages is roughly 200 thousand forints. That is a substantial amount, so the government would need to increase Hungarian paychecks rapidly to match that.
In Austrian hospitality and accommodations, every tenth employed is Hungarian.
This is why it might feel like that only Hungarians work there when you go on a trip to Austria. Especially since most of them work in Burgenland or close to the border.
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Despite the high Hungarian employment rate, not many Hungarian children attend school in Austria. Only 1087 Hungarian citizens do so. This could be explained by the average age of Hungarian workers which is 38.9, the number of employed Hungarians above 40 or 50 is explicit. The majority of Hungarians go to work in Austria after having children in Hungary.
While their workforce and taxes are missing from Hungar,y it is interesting to wonder about how many of them will settle down in Hungary as a pensioner. Their Austrian pensions would be a great source of income for Hungary.
Source: g7.hu
