Monthly Bulletin of Economic Trends

Labour shortage at Hungarian companies: perception and reactions

In this month’s analysis we shall examine the rate at which domestic companies faced problems caused by labour shortage in autumn 2018 and in January 2019, with special highlight on the types of companies that were primarily affected by this issue. The measures companies take to keep existing employees in place and to keep labour shortage in hand will also be presented in detail, including the employment of foreign citizens.

Data of the Quarterly Business Climate Survey from October 2018 and January 2019 recorded by IEER (Institute of Economic and Enterprise Research) were used to make this analysis. On both occasions, 400 CEOs were asked about their companies’ business situation and economic expectations. In the course of the same two waves, labour shortage rates, prevention measures and remedies were also surveyed. The full sample consisted of 300 SMEs (20-249 employees) and 100 large companies (250+ employees) in both cases.

How labour shortage is perceived

In October 2018, almost a half of our respondents (48%) faced problems in the year preceding the survey that could be traced back to labour shortage. In January 2019 this rate jumped to close to two thirds (61%). Labour shortage was felt the most intensively at companies that are major exporters or that are of a (partially) foreign ownership.

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