Kékgalléros ukrán munkavállalók Magyarországon: egy empirikus kutatás eredményei
Ukrainian blue-collar assembly workers in Hungary: results of an empirical study

Summary/Abstract: Ukrainian citizens represent a significant portion of the labour force in Hungary and are employed mainly as blue-collar assembly workers through temporary work agencies. For the present research we conducted a questionnaire survey to better understand this group. The main aim of our paper is to reveal the workers’ motivations for employment in Hungary, their attitude towards the Hungarian labour market, and their relationship to their homeland. Additionally, we conducted semi-structured interviews with Hungarian employers and representatives of recruitment agencies in order to identify their strategies for attracting Ukrainian labour and their perceptions about the Ukrainian workers. The results demonstrate that although the Ukrainian employees are a cheap and efficient workforce, alluring them to the Hungarian labour market has been only partly successful. They came to Hungary primarily because of its better working conditions, but they are earning less here than they could in other EU countries. For this reason, they have a high turnover rate, causing significant drawbacks to the employers. It can also be concluded that although Ukrainian workers generally have positive experiences in Hungary, most of them do not plan to stay in the country long-term.

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