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1. Youth employment measures

2. Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

3. Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

4. Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

5. Quality assurance

Youth employment measures

Most youth employment measures are part of the Youth Guarantee (YG) system.

Youth Guarantee Active Labour Market Programme

The backbone of the youth employment initiatives is the Youth Guarantee Active Labour Market Programme. The National Employment Service (Nemzeti Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat) which implements the guarantee, coordinates the system under this programme. This includes addressing, registration and monitoring of young people and the tasks relating to maintaining contact with the partner organisations involved in the operation of the system. The programme aims to promote the entry of young people under 25 into the labour market by providing wage subsidies, entrepreneurship support and training linked to labour market services such as job search assistance or mentoring. (For more information on the YG system, see 3.2 Adiministration and governance.)

Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programmes

The aim of the Youth Entrepreneurship Support projects is to provide support to young entrepreneurs (between the age of 18 and 30 and above 30 years) in the disadvantaged regions of Hungary. In the framework of the projects, the applicants can receive professional support to create their business plan, acquire the skills to start their business and get financial support. It was an EU funded project and had a budget of HUF 39.5 billion (about EUR 101 million). The information on the support is still available on the National Employment Service's website and it is updated in 2024, but there is no information available on the participants or on the already used amount.

The organisations participating in the Youth Guarantee

The organisations implementing the programme are:

• Széchenyi Programme Office (Széchenyi Programiroda Nonprofit Kft.),
• National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (FIVOSZ),
• the Hungarian Foundation for Enterprise Promotion (Magyar Vállalkozásfejlesztési Alapítvány),
• Budapest Polytechnics Foundation (Közgazdasági Politechnikum Alternatív Gimnázium),
• OFA NKft. (OFA Nonprofit Kft.).

Under the programme, the organisations provide young people with training to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to become entrepreneurs and run a business. They can also receive support in creating a business plan, advice and mentoring.

Tax exemption for below 25-year-olds

In 2021, one main youth related provision was the personal income tax exemption under 25 years starting from January 2022 onwards. The initiative comes from the Operative Council responsible for community revitalisation in Hungary and costs HUF 130-150 billion (about EUR 333-384 million) annually. In 2022, young people under the age of 25, could save a maximum of HUF 65 055 (about EUR 166) per month and up to HUF 780 660 (about EUR 2 000) in the entire tax year through this measure. In 2024, the amount of the benefit is HUF 576 601 (about EUR 1 440) per eligible month, which results in a tax saving of HUF 86 490 HUF (about EUR 215).

Direct job-creation programme

Direct job creation outside the Youth Guarantee Programme is not related strictly to youth employment. The role of the Public Work Scheme should be mentioned: the long-term unemployed must work in the secondary labour market in order to get a (lower than minimum wage) salary and the possibility to get state subsidies. Although the explicit aim of the scheme is to help workers return to the primary labour market, young people are not its specific target group, mostly because of the opportunities offered by the YG Programme.

Employment measures of the government

In the 2025 budget, the Government, through the New Economic Policy Action Plan (Új Gazdaságpolitikai Akcióterv), aims to provide various forms of support for young people to strengthen their position in the labour market and address housing difficulties. One key measure is the significant expansion of housing support. Employers with substantial tax benefits can provide a monthly housing allowance of HUF 150 000 (EUR 375) to help young employees with their rent or mortgage payments.

Starting from January 2025, the interest-free work loan is available for young people aged 17-25 (applicants must not have turned 26) who are employed in Hungary for at least 20 hours per week or are entrepreneurs (in the latter case, their income must meet the average earnings of those working 20 hours per week). The maximum loan amount is HUF 4 million (about EUR 10 000) with a repayment period of 10 years. A requirement for the loan is a commitment to work or operate a business in Hungary for at least five years. Applicants who have children may be eligible for repayment suspension and debt forgiveness.

The Young Farmer Grant is a non-repayable financial aid for young agricultural producers aged 18-40 who have an officially recognized or accredited agricultural qualification. Applicants must also have been managing an agricultural enterprise for no more than five years. The available non-repayable funding focuses on two areas:

• Target Area 1: (Generational Renewal through Start-up Support for Young Farmers): HUF 14.6 million (about EUR 36 500) in funding.
• Target Area 2: (Support for Investments by Young Agricultural Producers): funding ranges from HUF 10.5 million (about EUR 26 250) to HUF 75 million (about EUR 187 500).

Special target groups 

The special target groups of the Youth Guarantee Plus, published in 2023, are young people 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.

A key document regarding the employment of Roma people is the National Social Inclusion Strategy 2030 (Magyar Nemzeti Társadalmi Felzárkózási Stratégia 2030). The Strategy states that the employment prospects of Roma youth are worse because they have lower levels of education and the rate of early school leavers is higher among them. In 2019, the rate of unemployed Roma youth (30.5%) and other young people (10.4%) among 15-24 year olds showed wide disparities. (For more information on the National Social Inclusion Strategy, see 4.3 Strategy for the social inclusion of young people)

Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

National Youth Strategy

The aim of youth flexible employment appeared in the National Youth Strategy 2009-2024 (NYS) but it expired in 2024 and there is no plan to create a new youth specific strategy.

Labour Code

More general measures can also be found in the Labour Code (Munka Törvénykönyve) dated 2012. Risak- Kovács (2017) describes the main features of the Labour Code as follows:

'The main feature of the Code is the loosening of provisions and thereby, the creation of external flexibility for employers. Dismissal protection has been traditionally at a very low level, and sanctions for the unlawful termination of employment have been further limited. The Labour Code emphasises the importance of individual employment contracts and collective agreements by increasing individual and collective autonomy.

[…] Internal flexibility has also been increased. The working time regulation is as flexible as possible within the frame of the EU Working Time Directive, using this rather as a ceiling instead of a minimum level. The regulation provides employers with great flexibility, for example with the possibility of using 300 hours of overtime a year and cutting overtime costs when there is a sudden surge in labour force demand.' (Risak-Kovács, 2017)

Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

Within the specific objectives of NYS, the priority of reconciling work and family life appeared alongside the promotion of starting a family and raising children. The Strategy stated that,

'We need labour market regulators that facilitate the compatibility of family life and work and make atypical employment possible for families having children, especially in a certain life stage of parents with small children. Special attention should be paid to ensuring life path and carrier planning opportunities for women having children.' (National Youth Strategy 2009-2024)

The strategy expired in 2024 and there is no new youth strategy planned.

Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

Programmes within the Youth Guarantee system are all European Social Fund co-funded, with the national budget funding added. In addition, the budget of the Youth Guarantee Active Labour Market Programme includes all funds available to Hungary under the Youth Employment Initiative. Until 2020, a total of about HUF 200 billion (about EUR 512 million) was available to finance the guarantee.

Quality assurance

All ESF co-funded programmes under the YG system are monitored closely by the Ministry for National Economy (Nemzetgazdasági Minisztérium) in line with EU requirements. Regular audits are carried out by the Directorate General for Audit of European the Fund, the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors.