Mass agricultural employment of redundant workers is an illusion

Seasonal agricultural work is not a realistic alternative for the majority of Hungarian employees laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic in Hungary or Western Europe – Trenkwalder’s analysis shows.

Only 5 percent of larger farms are able to take on large numbers of new employees, and vacancies are expected to come primarily from the partial return of labor that has previously left agriculture.

Opportunities for employment in agriculture are severely limited by the extremely high number of primary producers and micro-enterprises in the sector.