Background information

Every quarter, local branch offices of the Ministry for National Economy ask companies in their respective regions about foreseen recruitment and layoffs by occupation, as well as the form of employment, should there be new hires.

The main aim and function of the survey is to create a new link of communication between a large pool of employers and the National Employment Agency to obtain information on both the planned staff expansions and reductions. Another explicit goal is to provide information for young people who are considering their career choices, employees in general, employers and investors, to help all these stakeholders make sound decisions about work.

The survey was discontinued in 2020, the last publication was for the first quarter of 2020.

Content of measure

In the Labour Utilisation Survey, public and private employers are asked about their plans regarding recruiting and layoffs. The survey covers all economic sections (at NACE level 1) and includes firms and organizations of all sizes. The distribution of the sample by size and section, however, differs from the distribution in the economy.

The survey examines the employee headcount of the businesses and the expected changes during the following quarter and the following year. The survey, despite having a sample size of more than 12,000 companies, is not representative regarding several dimensions, and its questionnaire is self-administered.

The survey was conducted by the National Employment Service and was funded by the Ministry of Finance.

Use of measure

In the first quarter of 2020, 12,528 employers responded to the survey; however, results are not representative of the Hungarian enterprises. The economic organisations involved in the survey employed 693,453 workers. At national level, the database represents 0.7% of registered business organisations – but 1.8% of actually operating business organisations – and 15.5% of employed persons. The response rate was 76% during the latest survey period. This survey has an outstandingly large sample size compared with other surveys conducted on behalf of the National Employment Services.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government Public employment service	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 01 April 2020: Negyedéves munkaerő-gazdálkodási felmérés (Quarterly labour survey) 2020/1 (nfsz.munka.hu)