Data show business sector is engine of job growth

Hungary's business sector is behind recent job creation, not public work schemes launched by the government, state secretary for employment policy Sándor Czomba said on Thursday.

The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (KSH) show 43,000 jobs were added to the economy compared to a year earlier, Czomba said. The number of people employed in public work schemes was not up from last year's average of 100,000-110,000, he added.

The government aims to create 300,000 new jobs by the end of its term, but the expansion will not be linear, Czomba said. By the end of this year, 250,000 people are expected to be employed in public work program, but 130,000-140,000 of them will be "moving in and out of the system" as they are employed in part-time positions for two, three or four months, he added.

The tools available for employment policy are not enough to create the 300,000 new jobs and public work schemes are an alternative to going on the dole; they are not an alterative to the business sector, he said.