Could Ukrainian refugees solve the Hungarian labour shortage?

40,000 jobs should be filled. More than 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in our country, and several organisations have already offered them jobs.

Are they the solution?

The real question is whether they can provide a solution for the Hungarian economy, which has been struggling with labour shortages for years. According to penzcentrum.hu, the answer is probably no. But their impact on the market in the short and long term was outlined by the Vice President of Communications of the National Association of Hungarian Labour Lenders.

The current figure of 200,000 refugees from Ukraine is likely to rise further. The Hungarian economy, which has a severe labour shortage, is welcoming people from Ukraine with open arms, but the big question is whether they can solve a problem that has been going on for years.

Read also: Who is responsible for the fuel price panic in Romania and Hungary?

Government help

About this, Rajmund Roland Dénes, the Vice President of Communications of the National Association of Hungarian Labour Lenders, said:

“The government is reacting quickly to help those who apply for asylum status by issuing a government decree to the effect that if someone is granted asylum status, they can be employed in the so-called shortage occupations from then on, either in normal employment or as a temporary worker without a permit, but the employer has an obligation to notify the immigration authority,”

we can read in penzcentrum.hu’s article.

Read also: Hungarian hospitality: the story of two Nigerian refugees fleeing Ukraine

By the end of 2021, there were more than 40,000 vacancies in Hungary, which also means that it is in everyone’s interest to provide maximum assistance to family members and relatives of Ukrainian citizens currently working in Hungary, to make them feel safe and secure here, to help them find a job as soon as possible, and to help them participate in the “blood circulation” of the Hungarian economy, the expert says. He then adds:

During the war-induced migration crisis, there will be many who prefer to continue their migration westwards because of the asylum status offered by the EU. Either because their families work there or because they will find it easier to find work there.

Of course, there will also be citizens temporarily in our country or in other Western countries who will apply for asylum status and wait for the war to end and then return home. Even though they have had to leave their homeland and livelihood behind, they are drawn home by their hearts to rebuild their livelihoods.