Hungary: Education, Personnel and Labor Market
Hungary’s population is approx. 10,000,000 and 57% of the working aged people are employed (approx. 3,900,000 persons). This is considerably lower than the average employment rate of the EU. The intention to find a job is especially low among the »oldest potential employees« (between 55 and 64), because many of them are entitled to pension or some pension like benefit. When Hungary started the transition to market economy in the early 90s, the age limit of retirement was quite low (55/60 for women/men) and it remained so until ’97. In addition, many people tried to escape from unemployment by retiring to disability pension.
According to recent studies, the proportion of the graduated people in the entire population is around 15%. It is characteristically higher in the big cities. About 66% of the labor force has completed at least some kind of technical, vocational or secondary education. The geographical mobility of the labor force is relatively low, due to the disproportionately high costs of relocation in comparison to the salaries.
In 2008 the gross monthly average salary is 185,000 HUF (approx. 740 EUR). The employee gets 116,000 HUF net. in his hand from it. The total salary cost charged to his employer is 248,000 HUF monthly. Beyond average, there are quite big differences in the salary that depend on sector, company size and ownership. Big multinational companies probably give higher salaries, especially on higher levels of the hierarchy. Broadly speaking, earnings are lower and unemployment rate is higher in the eastern part of the country.
The demand for the well-educated labor force has been increasing constantly in the recent years. The development of the education system answered successfully to this demand in general, especially on the highest levels of education. However, the adult education and the vocational training lag behind the Western-European level. 11% of the population passed a medium or high state degree examination of a foreign language. The situation is much better among young men. English and German are the most frequently known languages.
Hungary joined the so called Bologna process, and from 2006 starts educational programs only in accordance with the Bologna system. Hungary has honorable traditions in some areas of engineering, medicine and sciences.
