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Hungary currently employs 125,000 foreign workers legally and hosts a total of 250,000 foreigners, with roughly 90,000 coming from non‑EU countries, including 16,100 from the Philippines, 14,300 from Ukraine and 12,300 from China.
Foreign workers represent up to 3% of all employees in Hungary, a level considered low compared with Western Europe and even neighboring countries.
Employers warn that structural labor shortages persist, with 69,000 unfilled positions in Q2 2025 and every third service company, every fourth construction firm and every fifth industrial business reporting labor scarcity.
Large investors such as BMW, CATL and BYD already struggle to hire hundreds of workers simultaneously, and experts argue that without foreign labor, production lin es requiring 1,000 workers may be forced to operate at only 80% capacity or relocate entirely.
While critics say foreign workers depress wages, analysts counter that guest workers are actually more expensive to employ due to recruitment, relocation and compliance costs.
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