Suzuki would hire dismissed government employees

The Hungarian unit of Suzuki Motor Corp., Japan's biggest minicar maker, will hire some of the workers the country's government wants to dismiss as part of its plan to trim the budget deficit, Economy Minister János Kóka said. Magyar Suzuki Zrt, which employs 4,100 people, will add 600 jobs by year-end, deputy chief executive officer István Fórián said at a briefing in Budapest today. „We are mainly looking for people with degrees and foreign language skills and hope our project will be a model one in the country,” Fórián said, adding that 10% of Suzuki's current workforce has a degree. Premier Ferenc Gyurcsány’s government is raising taxes, increasing regulated prices and dismissing government employees to trim the European Union's largest budget deficit compared to the size of the economy. The government plans to dismiss 13,500 people all together, and 2187 workers have to leave in the first wave of dismissals from the ministries this year. Suzuki is hiring workers as it boosts production to meet rising demand for its vehicles. Suzuki said July 3 it would add employees and increase production in Hungary to meet higher demand for its new SX4 sport-utility vehicle. The unit will increase annual production to 300,000 cars from the present 170,000. (Bloomberg, FigyelőNet)