Szeged expects large number of guest workers

‘I don’t want to create any false illusions, but our city will definitely see a large number of workers from China and Asia,’ Mayor László Botka told the news portal index.hu.

The non-party, former socialist local politician referred to the unusually low unemployment rate of 1.3% in the city and the announced need for 10,000 employees in and around the assembly plant for electric cars that is being built. Among other things, the city relies on its vocational training centres, 30-40% of whose trainees commute to Szeged from the surrounding area. Vocational training in neighbouring Hódmezővásárhely and Makó is also to be integrated more intensively, as is the potential of the University of Szeged. After all, the southern Hungarian metropolis is ideal for workers from Vojvodina, the Hungarian-populated part of northern Serbia. Experts also told index.hu that BYD has the potential to poach workers from the Mercedes plant in Kecskemét, who are unsettled by the ongoing economic and sales crisis in Germany.