Hungary is facing the paradox of high unemployment combined with businesses struggling to hire and keep skilled workers. The leverage factor being used currently is salary levels. A certain number of big businesses such as Auchan and KIKA have started to respond and are raising their employees’ wages in order to stop them leaving. Negotiations with the unions are probably going to be tough in those sectors where wages have traditionally been low.
Lack of skilled labor. Officially, unemployment in Q4 2015 dropped to 6.2% as compared with 7.1% for the same period in 2014. However the Central Statistics Office indicated that when public works are taken into account, unemployment actually rose from 11.1% to 11.3%.
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