Contents:

• Wage changes and hiring freeze at Hungarian companies
• Atypical employment at Hungarian companies
• International trends

HCIC’s Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research (IEER) recently examined the effects the COVID-19 pandemic exerted on the economy. This time, the main focus is on capacity utilisation, financial reserves, employee numbers and changes in salaries and consumer prices. Domestic and foreign sales prices were taken from IEER’s Business Climate Surveys taken in the previous 31 waves (2005–2020), while the rest of the data used in this paper originate from the most recent survey conducted by IEER in April 2020 involving 2891 Hungarian companies. Records were taken between 1 April and 30 April 2020, during the period of COVID-19–related restrictions, so first impressions of the pandemic and the ensuing economic lockdown had a profound impact on our results. The aim of IEER’s Business Climate Survey was to map the CEO respondents’ short–term expectations based on their subjective judgement and information available to them at the time the survey was conducted.

In the article below by the Institute of Economic and Enterprise Research (IEER), we examine the obstacles hampering the business activity of enterprises in Hungary, the corporate reactions and crisis management tools countering the economic effects of the pandemic and the impact of measures introduced by the state. In the case of obstacles hampering the business activity of enterprises in Hungary, the data originates from last four waves of the half-annual IEER Business Climate Survey; concerning the other chapters data is from the latest wave of the same research: in April 2020, altogether 2891 enterprises were surveyed on the subject. The data collection took place between 1st of April and 30th of April, in the period when lockdown and curfew measures were imposed against the effects of the pandemic.

Contents:

• Implementation of crisis management measures - Corporate reactions countering the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

• International trends

HCIC’s Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research (IEER) analysed Hungarian companies’ borrowing habits and experiences. The data analysed here originate from the quarterly business climate surveys conducted by IEER focusing on perceived business loan eligibility requirements (16 times since October 2011) and on the types of loans taken out (18 times since October 2011). In this matter a total of 7129 Hungarian companies were surveyed. Below we shall present the results of the most recent quarterly business climate survey (January 2020) put into context by a timeline of the past decade’s credit trends in the second part of our analysis.

Involving Hungarian companies, a survey was conducted by the Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (HCIC) to find out about the economic impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In this article, HCIC's Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research analyses the answers to the survey concerning the major problems of businesses. The survey was conducted between 19 and 31 March 2020. The online questionnaire was filled in by 5268 company representatives, and 4383 gave an answer to the open question: „What poses the most serious problem to the operation of your business now?”. The analysis focuses the opinions formulated by this latter group.

Our brief analysis examines the nine potential measures that can be reactions to the affects of the January 2019 raise of the minimum wage/guaranteed minimum salary for qualified staff. CEOs were asked to fill in the form below.

In this analysis we shall examine the rate at which domestic companies faced problems caused by labour shortage in autumn 2018 and in January 2019, with special highlight on the types of companies that were primarily affected by this issue. The measures companies take to keep existing employees in place and to keep labour shortage in hand will also be presented in detail, including the employment of foreign citizens.

Data of the Quarterly Business Climate Survey from October 2018 and January 2019 recorded by IEER (Institute of Economic and Enterprise Research) were used to make this analysis. On both occasions, 400 CEOs were asked about their companies’ business situation and economic expectations. In the course of the same two waves, labour shortage rates, prevention measures and remedies were also surveyed. The full sample consisted of 300 SMEs (20-249 employees) and 100 large companies (250+ employees) in both cases.

The working paper of IEER is based on a survey of 6781 company managers. The analysis examines the extent at which businesses active in Hungary may be affected by automation and also their attitute towards the implementation of new technologies. The proportion of employees on technically automatable jobs was also surveyed.

This analysis is based on data taken from the October 2018 Business Climate Survey conducted by the Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce's Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research (HCCI IEER), involving 2830 CEO respondents. The survey respondents were enquired about the presence of fringe benefits. The sample of responding companies can be considered representative regarding economic sector, region, and the number of employees.

According to our findings, 80% of surveyed companies offered their employees at least one type of fringe benefit in 2018, out of which, the two most popular were season tickets for local public transport and Erzsébet vouchers. The use of fringe benefits correlated with company size, foreign ownership rate, economic sector, and the economic situation of the companies involved. The use of fringe benefits was the most common at large companies employing 250+ people, businesses of predominantly foreign ownership, industrial companies, and those in a fair business situation.