In order to map the Hungarian labor market, the Pénzcentrum, with the help of the Opten company information service provider, gathered which businesses in each county were the largest employers by the end of February this year, and whether, based on the available headcount data, their headcount increased or decreased compared to the 2017 data. The compilation published on Thursday does not take into account, among other things, outsourced workers, nor does it show which company in which county the most people work, the list ranks among the companies registered in that county.
The compilation shows that out of the 20 counties (the Pénzcentrum added Budapest to the 19 counties), there were changes in a total of three:
- In the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, the American Jabil Circuit Magyarország Szerzodéses Gyártó Kft., which manufactures electronic circuit boards and systems, topped the county list in 2017 with 3,926 employees, and has now become the largest employing Hungarian facilities management company, B + N Referencia Zrt., which employs a total of 11,737 people;
- In the county of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Electrolux Lehel Hűtőipari Kft. was the largest with its 3,134 employees, but in 2024 Rosenberger Magyarország Kft., which deals with air and climate technology, will employ 240 more people.
- And this year in the county of Vas – providing employment to 3,622 people – the car parts manufacturer Schaeffler Savaria Kft. became the absolute largest employer, which is interesting because here in 2017 the now-liquidated Ézynykyk Eszaknyugat-magyarországi Közlekedesi Központ Zrt. employed the most people here. a total of 4,292 people worked for the company. So, not only the company leading the list changed in the county of Vas, but the number of employees also decreased.
Another interesting feature of the new list compared to 2017 is that previously there were only four counties with more than 10,000 employees, and this has not changed until now. However, the players have changed: the number of Tesco-Global Áruházak Zrt. in Pest County has now decreased by 8,831 people (!) and has crept below 10,000, so its place in this county has also been taken over by the Borsod company B + N Referencia Zrt., which deals with building operations.
The largest employer in the country with its 23,339 employees is still Magyar Posta Zrt., although the company’s workforce has decreased by almost 8,300 since 2017. But this is still enough to exceed the figure of the second largest employer, Spar Magyarország Kft., which has been targeted by the government in recent months, providing employment to 14,139 people in Fejér county, by more than one and a half times. Another important piece of information, however, is that the majority of the largest employers in Hungary are foreign-owned, and this has not changed over the years, as well as the fact that a significant part of them is related to machine and car manufacturing.
The aggregated list also reveals that although the number of employed persons decreased overall in eight of all counties, in most of the remaining 12 the proportion of employed persons was not only kept at the same level, but also significantly increased compared to 2017. Compared to the same period in 2023, however, the number of employees also decreased in 12 counties: the most employees were laid off in a single year by Magyar Posta Zrt. (2,233 people), followed by Tesco-Global (826 people) and Audi Hungaria Zrt. (426 people). follows. B + N Referencia Zrt., registered in the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and starting to expand internationally after numerous state orders, showed the largest increase in its workforce, which increased its number of employees by 1,480 percent (1,994 people) in the course of a single year.
