Spar to hire dismissed gov’t employees

Spar Handels AG's Hungarian unit will hire 200 public workers the country's government is dismissing as Hungary struggles to cut its budget deficit. Spar Magyarország Kereskedelmi Kft will employ a further 1,500 public employees every year in the future, according to an agreement it signed with Hungary's Labor Office yesterday, the Labor Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. The ministry did not say when Spar would begin hiring any of the workers. The supermarket's decision to employ dismissed government workers comes after the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan's biggest minicar maker, said July 27 it would also hire former civil servants. Spar wants to add 30 new shops to its Hungarian business this year, Világgazdaság reported Feb. 27. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s government is raising taxes, increasing energy prices and dismissing employees to trim the European Union's largest budget deficit compared to the size of the economy. Spar Magyarország operated 125 Spar and 22 Kaiser's supermarkets and 21 Interspar hypermarkets at the end of 2005. (Bloomberg)