It would not surprise me if the waste management taken over by Mol, or even the construction of Paks 2 without the involvement of foreign labor, would present a very serious challenge to whoever undertakes it.

A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister made his intention clear: to give every person fit for work the opportunity to work. Although the fact that he shared all of this in front of the public had serious news value, in fact there is not much new in it, anyone who wants to can work since 2010. The labor market continues to starve the workforce, especially those with professions and expertise, especially those who can be counted on not only for a few weeks or months, but also for the long term.

At the same time, the current situation will surely become more complex and difficult in the coming months and years, after it has become clear that the labor market offers jobs for hundreds of thousands of new employees.

This state of affairs is both a blessing and a difficulty for all those who have tasks and responsibilities in today's Hungarian education, training, placement in the labor market, and social catch-up. It's a blessing and an opportunity, because anyone who didn't want or couldn't work until now can definitely find a job. (The question is, of course, how many of them there are, and how they can finally be turned into a dedicated and capable workforce.) At the same time, it is also a serious challenge, because in recent years, those who can be employed relatively smoothly and quickly have simply run out.

It is in the national interest for all those who have not yet done so to find work. The search for the last people who can still be found and made suitable for work has already begun, and the last drops left in the domestic labor market have already been squeezed out.

Among the disadvantaged and the residents of the gypsy ranks, the last ones who could not be touched by the economic prosperity of the past decade are the last to be considered. Now it's the turn of those who simply apply, and if they qualify, they get the job, and if they don't, they either acquire new knowledge or undertake the journey or relocation.

This is the last chance for disadvantaged Hungarians and gypsies between the ages of 25 and 60. They have to hold on now because they will never get another chance like this. Don't fool yourself and the employers that they will really start working in the fall, next summer or when there is a new mayor. Those who approach it this way do not feel or understand why this moment is a turning point. There will be no more time to wait on the labor market for those who still hesitate, turn their heads away, or just openly refuse to work.

The last moment

Despite all the intentions of the Prime Minister and those responsible for the employment policy of the government to count on integration and Hungarian labor reserves, they will very soon ask the most important question of our time:

if not the Hungarians, then who will work here in the coming years...?

Some people think that any suggestion that foreign workers will soon flood Hungary is a hoax. Others see the possibility of maintaining domestic competitiveness if we immediately attack the free labor force, mainly Asian, and import them in large numbers to the domestic labor market. The prime minister's request reflects important sociopolitical aspects when he says that foreigners should come when all Hungarians are already working. It would be worth supplementing this with the fact that the foreigners should come when we have found all the Hungarians who can be made suitable for it and tried to get them to work. It may be coming much sooner than many thought.

The government's intention is clear. Employers too. The investment means a job, the job is looking for an employee, the employee gets paid and pays taxes, and by the way, supports the family with legal income. The conditions for this have been given continuously since 2010, and those who understood that this was in their interest did not abandon vocational training prematurely. They applied for the vacant positions and kept them. Others learned something else, obtained a new qualification, and there is a good chance that they were able to get a job. A number of favorable laws were enacted - the family tax allowance, the tax exemption for mothers of four and those under 25 years of age all served the purpose of enabling those who are suitable to take up work.

At the same time, there are still many people who left vocational training prematurely - in each case based on their own decision. There are still plenty of people for whom public work is enough, and the income that can be obtained from the black, gray, or day labor. I myself am one of those who believe that it will be decided very soon, even by the fall, or by the end of this year at the latest, how many people there are who can be moved, can be involved in the domestic economy as domestic workers.

Let us have no illusions, there are not 500,000 currently unemployed people who can be made fit for work.

Even with all efforts, there may be 100-150, a maximum of 200,000 people who can still be made capable of working in today's Hungarian society, but this also requires a new adult training strategy so that we can offer quality trained workers to investors. Adult training centers modeled on vocational training centers should be established for low-status, but highly important workplaces.

Vocational training conditions are constantly improving, the facilitations that are currently being negotiated will provide additional help to those coming from disadvantaged communities, reduce dropout rates, and involve a greater number of older people in the system that provides at least some partial qualification. While the high standards achieved in recent years must be maintained in the sectors that can be considered the flagships of vocational training (primarily in the technical schools), active efforts must be made to ensure that the schools that perform worse and are in socially and economically more difficult areas can catch up. The last people who can still be made suitable for work must be taken out of public employment - this would mean at least 30-40 thousand workers who can be transferred to the primary labor market through adult training.

It would not come as a surprise if, from a national strategic point of view, important tasks such as waste management taken over by Mol, or the construction of Paks 2, would present a very serious challenge to the task provider without the involvement of foreign labor.

That is why it would be worthwhile to consider the creation of a state labor bank even this year, in which the constantly changing workforce could be monitored and managed on a quarterly and regional basis on the supply side, which could be compared with the current demand for labor on the demand side. The government must act bravely and constructively in this matter, even if the various actors of the political scene will certainly be happy to show and exploit all of this in accordance with their own ideology and political interests.

The experts and politicians who promote the results of Finnish education and the competitiveness of the Baltic states as models should finally understand that the demographic and social catch-up characteristics and the difficulties arising from them are far different in these countries from all the challenges that the Hungarian economy and society have to face. .

István Forgács, Roma expert

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Featured image: Árpád Földházi