Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy of Hungary attended the informal meeting of the ministers of EU Member States responsible for employment and social policy on Thursday, 10 October, in Budapest, Hungary.

There, he made the claim that even an 85 per cent labour force participation rate is achievable in Hungary ’if the internal labour market reserve can be mobilized’. As of July 2024, Hungary’s labour participation rate was 68.13 per cent, according to Tradingeconomics.com. For reference, the same number in the United States is 62.70 per cent as of September 2024.

Minister Nagy would like to see new workers added from the two ends of the age spectrum, the young and the elderly, as that is where he believes the labour market reserves of Hungary are. Also, he would only allow guest workers to come into the country in high volume if there is a shortage in certain professions that cannot be solved by the domestic labour market.

The Hungarian government believes that the best solution to unemployment is to encourage people to find a job as soon as possible, rather than prolonged unemployment benefits, the Minister added.

As per August 2024, the unemployment rate was just 4.3 per cent in Hungary, far below the EU average of 5.9 per cent in the same month. In fact, our country ranks 8th out of the 27 Member States in terms of level of employment.

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