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Central Europe
July 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
However, wiiw said in a statement ahead of the summit, “we note the potential for an unsustainable build-up of public debt, unwelcome political influ- ence, increased corruption, and limited growth spill- overs if local labour and materials are not used.”
On the other hand, wiiw has estimated that the planned projects with Chinese participation would generate a 10% of GDP boost for Montenegro and
Hungary's labour shortage even greater challenge than thought
bne IntelliNews
Official data from Hungary's statistics office KSH puts job vacancies at 80,000, but the actual figure is estimated at 300,000, industry leaders say, Hungarian media reported on July 9.
"The lack of skilled workers is an increasing problem for all sectors of the economy, and the problem is the most pressing in construction, catering, and tourism where there is a daily problem of finding and retaining skilled workers", said Ferenc Rolek, vice president of the Hungarian Association of Hungarian Industrialists (MGYOSZ).
Surveys show that nine out of ten companies
in the manufacturing sector said a labour shortage could lead to reducing output. The KSH survey puts vacancies at 24,000, which is hugely underestimated, as the survey only includes companies with at least five people.
Taking into account corporate surveys and the fact that the most people work in the manufacturing sector, even the most cautious estimate put job vacancy around 100,000 in the sector, but many
Bosnia & Herzegovina, 7% for Serbia, and 2% for Macedonia.
“For the rest of CESEE the effects are lower,
but still over 1% of GDP in the case of Hungary. We also find that the investments would reduce transport times, diversify the region’s economic structure, improve inter-regional cooperation, and have positive trade effects,” the statement noted.
industry leaders say up to 200,000 workers could be absorbed by the manufacturing industry.
Hungary's construction sector has seen employ- ment reach pre-crisis levels, but the sector could still soak up some 40,000 skilled workers, indus- try players claim. Empty jobs were filled by mostly low-skilled workers.
Construction companies and talented profession- als left the country in masses after the economic crisis.
Hungary's declining demographics is further ag- gravating the problem. The population will con- tinue to drop 40,000-50,000 in the coming years. Despite an increase of the fertility rate from 1.2 to 1.44 in the last eight years, the percentage of women in reproductive age is now significantly lower than it was 5-10 years ago, which makes
it a mounting challenge to overcome the demo- graphic trap.
At current levels, Hungary’s population will fall to