Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Hungary (Ratification: 1994)

Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. Contribution of the employment service to employment promotion. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on the impact and effectiveness of the activities carried out by the employment service, in particular following the reorganization of the public employment service. The Government refers in its report to the transformation of the public employment service in 2020–21 and to legislative changes that took place during the reporting period, including the adoption of Act No. CXXXV of 2020 on Services and Subsidies to Promote Employment and on the Supervision of Employment. The Government recalls that, in 2017, more than 40 central offices were terminated or transformed, with tasks reallocated from the central offices to the district offices. Additional changes were introduced in March 2020 resulting in a more transparent and simpler organisational structure for citizens. Accordingly, the district offices perform employment-related tasks, while the government or central offices perform employment supervision and occupational safety control tasks. With reference to Government Decree 104/2022. (III. 12.) on supporting the accommodation of persons arriving during the state of emergency due to the humanitarian disaster in a neighbouring country and other related measures, the Government indicates that a significant change which occurred in the duties and responsibilities affecting the employment field of government offices was the performance of tasks related to supporting the employment of persons with Ukrainian citizenship as of March 2022. One new responsibility in this regard was the registration of persons requesting recognition as asylum seekers who could be involved in employment. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that while the number of successful placements by the public employment service had substantially increased between 2010 and 2014 (201,907 to 659,509 placed persons) and the average number of registered jobseekers had declined, the newly provided data shows a decline in the total number of successful placements from 486,002 in 2016 and to 229,468 in 2022. The Committee also notes that, pursuant to EUROSTAT data, in the 15–74 age group, the number of unemployed persons, as defined by the ILO, showed a steady downward trend from January–March 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of unemployed persons, as defined by the ILO, amounted to 188,900, a slight increase of 8,600 compared to the same period in the previous year. Based on the Labour Force Survey data for the fourth quarter of 2022, the economically active population aged 15–74 numbered 4,891,400, giving an activity rate of 66.9 per cent. The Committee further observes that the national context is characterized by economic growth, high employment levels and labour force participation. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the application of the Convention, indicating also the manner in which the employment service addresses the challenges represented by regional disparities in the labour market and the needs of older persons in the context of aging population. It also asks the Government to provide updated information on the impact and effectiveness of the activities carried out by the employment service and to continue to provide information, including statistical data, disaggregated by sex and age, on the number of public employment offices established, the number of employment applications received, the number of vacancies notified and the number of persons placed in employment by these offices.

Articles 4 and 5. Cooperation with employers’ and workers’ representatives. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that the national interest reconciliation system was reformed in 2011. The National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and the Permanent Consultation Forum (PCF) were established in that same year. The Committee then noted the concerns expressed by the employers’ and workers’ organizations represented at the National ILO Council regarding the consultations held within the NESC and the PCF. The Committee requested the Government to provide further information on the consultations effectively held with employers’ and workers’ organizations concerning the organization and operation of the employment service and in the development of employment service policy. The Government indicates in this respect that the employment service is part of the national public administration system, and therefore it has no separate cooperation or consultations mechanisms of its own. It further indicates that the system of interest reconciliation has remained essentially unchanged. Act XCIII of 2011 provides on the prevailing regime of economic interest reconciliation, including employment policy interest reconciliation, as the highest forum of the institution system of social dialogue, that is, the NESC and its organisation and operation. The purpose of the Act is to replace the central coordination consultation forums that used to operate in parallel with each other, and in many cases overlapping with each other, in terms of their scope of duties. With the launch of the NESC in 2011, the new consultation mechanism enables social dialogue on a wide range of topics. In addition to the NESC, the Permanent Consultation Forum of the Private Sector and Government (VKF), operational since 2012, also provides an opportunity for the social partners to engage in a meaningful dialogue. Moreover, the Government indicates that the VKF provides an organisational framework for national employers' and workers' representatives and the Government to hold regular consultations on, inter alia, government regulatory measures concerning employment policy, the labour market and wage developments in the private sector, and any other issues directly affecting the economic or social situation of employers and workers. At the national level, the National Civil Service Interest Conciliation Council (OKÉT) continues to be the preeminent forum for reconciling interests in the public sector. While it takes due note of this information, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the specific consultations effectively held with employers’ and workers’ organizations concerning the organization and operation of the employment service and in the development of employment service policy.