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Hungary LABOR FORCE
In the late 1980s, active earners made up a large
percentage
of the working-age population, and many Hungarians
supplemented
their income by working outside jobs, tilling household
plots, or
operating private businesses. Unfortunately, many
enterprises
used labor inefficiently, and the country suffered from
underemployment and relatively low labor productivity. The
government had enacted measures aimed at forcing
enterprises to
operate more efficiently. Regrettably, these measures
threatened
the elimination of many jobs and signaled a significant
ideological departure from communism's commitment to full
employment. Fear of unemployment influenced government
decisions
to allow the private sector to grow and to create jobs for
laid-off workers. Despite the government's concern,
observers
expected overall unemployment to remain low by Western
standards.
Data as of September 1989
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