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Hungary

Hungary

3. Employment & Entrepreneurship

3.2 Administration and governance

Last update: 27 March 2024
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  1. Governance
  2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Responsibility

Policy making in all fields related to employment is the responsibility of the Ministry for National Economy (Nemzetgazdasági Minisztérium). The State Secretary Responsible for Employment Policy, under the Ministry for National Economy, is responsible for the professional management of the employment of young people and the improvement of their labour market situation. The employment departments of the Labour Centres of County Government Offices and the employment departments of district offices play also an important role in implementation. The district offices serve also as entry points for the Youth Guarantee System.

The State Secretary Responsible for Employment Policy coordinates two deputy state secretaries related to employment policy:

  • the Deputy State Secretary Responsible for Employment Policy and Programme and
  • the Deputy State Secretary Responsible for Labour Market, Labour Safety and Employment Supervision.

The Department of Entrepreneurship Development, under the State Secretary Responsible for Economic Strategy, Financial Resources and Macroeconomic Analysis, is responsible for entrepreneurship development. One of the main tasks of the Department is the preparation and monitoring of the Hungarian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Strengthening Strategy 2019-2030 (A Magyar Mikro-, Kis- és Középvállalkozások Megerősítésének Stratégiája 2019-2030).  At horizontal level, youth policy is coordinated by the Ministry for Culture and Innovation (Kulturális és Innovációs Minisztérium).

National Employment Service

The organisation system of the National Employment Service [(Nemzeti Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat (referred hereinafter to as PES)] consists of the

  • Ministry for National Economy,
  • the employment and labour market departments of County Government Offices, and
  • the employment departments of district offices.

The County Government Offices and the district offices register young jobseekers and can engage them in active labour market programmes offering a wide range of employment measures (training, wage subsidy, mobility support, entrepreneurship promotion, labour market services, etc.), tailored to individual needs. The area of vocational education and training is managed by the National Office of Vocational Education and Training and Adult Learning (Nemzeti Szakképzési és Felnőttképzési Hivatal).

The Board of the Children and Youth Fund

Currently, the main advisory body in the field of youth policy is the Board of the Children and Youth Fund (Gyermek és Ifjúsági Alapprogram Tanácsa). Previously this role belonged to the National Youth Expert Forum and to the Roundtable for Youth. (For more information see sub-chapter 5.3 Youth representation bodies.)

NGOs actively involved

Beside governmental actors, NGOs are also actively involved in improving the situation of young people. The National Youth Council (Nemzeti Ifjúsági Tanács) was founded in 2012 as an umbrella organisation, with the main task to represent the interests of smaller youth organisations and to influence and shape youth policy.

FIVOSZ – National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (FIVOSZ) is the most significant non-governmental organisation in the field of youth entrepreneurship, 'which is the community and officially acknowledged representative body of young Hungarian entrepreneurs and enterprising young people both in Hungary and in the EU.' Their activities include mentorship, provision of different benefits (through market partners), and advice for its members who pay the annual fee.

Furthermore,

are responsible for informing and recruiting young people, assessing their skills, engaging them in the programme, providing training to the enterprise and assisting in the development of the business plan.

Youth Guarantee

The Youth Guarantee [Ifjúsági Garancia (hereinafter referred to as YG)], introduced in January 2015, has become the most significant framework of youth employment. The Youth Guarantee is a complex system that aims to reduce youth unemployment and improve the lives of young people by combining education and employment measures. The most important feature of the Hungarian Youth Guarantee Programme is that the PES (the only entry point to and leading actor in the Youth Guarantee system) must make a concrete offer of employment, traineeship or study to young people who are not in employment or education and are under 25 years of age within a certain period of time (6 or 4 months).

A total of HUF 200 billion (about EUR 512 million) was available to finance the guarantee programme until 2020, primarily from the support provided to Hungary under the Youth Employment Initiative and partly from the European Social Fund and the corresponding national budgets. According to the plans, these funds can support at least 180 000 young people in finding a job or acquiring valuable market skills. The Ministry for National Economy is responsible for coordinating the applications.

The reinforced Youth Guarantee

In 2020, all EU countries have committed to the implementation of the so-called 'reinforced' Youth Guarantee. That means that the target group was broadened to 29 year-olds. The programme provides personalised assistance, services, traineeships, job opportunities, training, support for entrepreneurship and support for mobility and housing.

As of 30 June 2022, labour support for enterprises and subsidies for gaining work experience in less developed regions (all counties except for Budapest and Pest county) have been suspended.

The call for proposals for the Youth Guarantee Plus was published in 2023. The purpose of the Youth Guarantee Plus is to help young people gain work experience or knowledge that is suitable for the rapidly changing labour market needs. The project primarily supports NEET young people and disadvantaged young people such as 

  • who have a low level of education, 
  • live in a rural area, 
  • are raising small children,
  • are Roma, 
  • are job seekers starting their careers,
  • have a preserved work capacity, 
  • carry out caring activities.

The budget of the project is HUF 196.9 billion (around EUR 504 million) and it is financed by the European Social Fund.

Cross-sectorial cooperation

The two most relevant governmental bodies dealing with youth employment are the Ministry for National Economy and the Ministry for Culture and Innovation. The latter coordinates responsibilities addressed in the National Youth Strategy 2009-2024 (Nemzeti Ifjúsági Stratégia 2009-2024) and its action plans whereas the former is responsible for all actions relating to improving the employability of young people, including the coordination of the Youth Guarantee.