Although the previous labor shortage has eased over the past year, the Hungarian labor market still can't breathe easy. According to a recent analysis by Work Force, the economic slowdown has led to more potential candidates, but companies are still struggling to find suitably qualified and motivated workers, especially in manufacturing, the automotive industry, and the technology sector. According to the MNB's June 2025 report, the unemployment rate remains low, but labor market tightness has eased further in recent quarters.
Despite the fact that several manufacturing and automotive companies have scaled back production or adopted a "wait-and-see" stance, Work Force believes that new industrial investments will further increase demand in the near future, while the number of available skilled workers is not growing. This is supported by the MNB's June 2025 Inflation Report, which states that the unemployment rate will rise slightly in 2025 and 2026 (to 4.5% and then 4.8%) and fall back to 4.5% in 2027. Based on the experience of HR service providers, without flexible recruitment and retention strategies, companies will not be able to keep pace with labor market challenges.
Work Force believes that the market is "more balanced but still lacking in candidates," especially in certain regions and professions. One of the reasons for this is that some of the unemployed are not mobile, do not have the right qualifications, or do not live in the right region. Typical shortage occupations continue to be skilled manual jobs (e.g., welders, machine operators, maintenance workers), and demand for engineers remains high. In addition, the composition of the domestic labor market is constantly changing, as evidenced by the growing presence of foreign workers, especially in the industrial, manufacturing, and logistics sectors.
In today's volatile labor market, a complex HR service provider can put together a portfolio for companies that provides a sufficiently flexible and secure background with a diversified portfolio that includes its own workforce, temporary staff, supplemented by students, third-country workers and, where appropriate, workers with changed work capacity.
"The uncertain economic environment encourages employers to make more cautious decisions. In the B2B sector, there is typically a greater need for flexible resource management rather than long-term contracts. Temporary staffing is no longer just a tactical tool, but a strategic one: it allows companies to adapt quickly to market changes without taking unnecessary risks," said Róbert Csákvári, managing director of Work Force.
According to the HR service provider's experience, turnover remains high, so in many cases, recruitment is more a result of replacement than expansion. It should be noted that the motivations behind changing jobs also vary: in the case of manual workers, financial reasons typically dominate, while among white-collar workers, although many feel that their salaries have not kept pace with inflation, which causes dissatisfaction, at the same time, the main reason for turnover is not money, but overload, burnout, and lack of career opportunities – the reason behind resignations is often that the employee does not receive enough feedback or opportunities for development, and therefore changes jobs.
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