The estimate is based on a survey conducted by Évosz in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The survey showed that the number of foreigners hired by companies with headcounts up to 100 was negligible, while the share of foreign workers at companies with over 100 people on payroll — 40% of respondents — averaged just 1-2% of the headcount.
Most of those foreign hires came from Romania, Slovakia, and Croatia, among European Union member states, as well as from Ukraine. Around half of businesses employed workers from Ukraine in blue-collar positions, while 10% hired Ukrainians for white-collar work.
Around one-fourth of companies made hires from countries outside of the EU, including Serbia, Jordan, Ecuador, and Mongolia. Those workers were hired using recruiting agencies, based in Hungary or abroad, and were provided with accommodations.
Laborers from non-EU countries worked on temporary contracts with limits up to two years or more, most staying in Hungary no longer than the term of their contracts.
Over half of the survey respondents were fully satisfied with the work of laborers from non-EU countries and said they planned to continue to tap that pool of labor in 2024, too.
The respondents also noted that the number of foreign investors in Hungary hiring non-EU laborers directly was on the rise.
Particularly investors from the Far East and Turkiye building facilities in Hungary are bringing in construction materials, labourers, construction machinery capacity, and technology, Évosz said.
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