Optimism among Hungarian workers has fallen

The BNP Paribas Cardif Labor Market Stability Index for the second quarter of the year recorded a reading of 75 points, down 2 points compared to the same period last year and 3 points compared to the previous quarter.

BNP Paribas Cardif Insurance, in partnership with Median, created the index in 2014 to measure the stability of the labor market from the perspective of workers. The index is based on a face-to-face survey of 1,200 people and the sample is representative of the adult Hungarian population by age, gender, education and type of settlement.

According to the survey, 36 percent of workers in the second quarter of the year started to worry that they might lose their job within a year, an increase of 8 percentage points compared to the previous quarter.

According to the release, rising uncertainty is also reflected in the fact that while 61 percent of respondents were confident in their current job for more than five years in the spring, this figure has now fallen to 53 percent.

Forty-two percent of respondents’ households could survive up to three months if the main earner lost his or her job. In contrast, the proportion of those who could survive between four months and a year has jumped nearly 8 percentage points to 33 percent, and 22 percent could survive more than a year.

In the event of job loss, 69 percent of respondents said they would have someone in the household to rely on, 64 percent could borrow money from a family member or relative with whom they do not share a household, and 55 percent could ask a friend to help. Another 28 percent of respondents said that if they lost their job, they would have insurance to get money, the survey found.

Meanwhile, 54 percent of respondents said they would find a job easily or very easily, up 4 percentage points versus the same period last year, which continues to give cause for optimism.