Hungary

[togor]

Interesting read.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/b...slave-law.html

Hungary has a labor shortage rooted in overlapping factors. First, it is a low-wage region of the EU, so there have been capital inflows from elsewhere in the EU to build plants. Second, as an EU state, it's people have the right to move to Germany or France for a more interesting life, and many do. Hungary has a net outflow of people. Orban takes a hard line on letting in people from outside the EU. His anti-immigration stance is cheered by many, but it doesn't change the labor situation. Ukranians are one of the non-EU ethnicities on the "good" list, but they'd rather work in Poland. Long story short, the people who would be willing to move to Budapest, Orban doesn't want. Enter the Mandatory Overtime law, which says businesses can compel up to 400 hours of mandatory overtime a year (normal full time in the USA is about 2000 hours, so in effect requiring mandatory 48 hour weeks), and take up to 3 years to pay that overtime.

One might call that a ham-fisted response. All it really does is create one more reason for people to not do factory work in Hungary. This is one to watch.

[S.A. Boggs]

Dang, 1433 and none of the other "voices" have responded? Must be out doing a kind act of some sort.
Sam

[Vern Humphrey]

Dang, 1433 and none of the other "voices" have responded? Must be out doing a kind act of some sort.
Sam

Taking their diapers to the laundry.

[Roadkingtrax]

Taking their diapers to the laundry.

No doubt Sam has a cancer related diaper story he could share. Sam?

[togor]

It's not necessarily a thread in everyone's wheelhouse, to be sure, but Hungary is on the front lines of Europe's immigration issue, which is a subject of occasional interest here. The piece points out how immigration and economic policies intersect, and raises the question of what does it mean for a government to be supposedly for the Hungarian people but against the Hungarian worker. Anyways, judging from the infantile posts of the Jug Band (Vernon & Boggs), it's a subject clearly beyond their reach. Not really a surprise there.

[lyman]

This is one to watch.

I think you are correct,

will be interesting to see how it plays out,

hopefully he can strike a compromise in some way to get the labor the country needs , and still maintain the sense of national identity he (and others ) do not want to dilute .

'a more interesting life' was an interesting comment,
we were were in London, years ago, most of the maids etc in the hotel were French, and most of the bar staff in a handful of Pubs we were in were Eastern European

[Dolt]

It's not necessarily a thread in everyone's wheelhouse, to be sure, but Hungary is on the front lines of Europe's immigration issue, which is a subject of occasional interest here. The piece points out how immigration and economic policies intersect, and raises the question of what does it mean for a government to be supposedly for the Hungarian people but against the Hungarian worker. Anyways, judging from the infantile posts of the Jug Band (Vernon & Boggs), it's a subject clearly beyond their reach. Not really a surprise there.

Russia got Hungary so it fried Turkey in Greece!!!

[blackhawknj]

All of the Western European countries have had labor shortages for years due to low birth rates.

[bruce]

Simple supply and demand. Need labor? Pay higher wages to get the people you want. If one limits that to only EU folks, you'll have to offer better wages/benefits than prevail in other competing nations. That business of forcing people to work w/ businesses getting 3 years to delay paying will not work out well for the ones who want to avoid market realities. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.