“The shared services sector will by the most important sector in the transition of Hungary’s economy to a new dimension”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Budapest at the Hungarian Shared Services Gala organised by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA).
At the event, which was organised for the third time, the Minister highlighted: “The shared services centre (SSC) sector is a young sector of the Hungarian economy, but has developed ‘by leaps and bounds’ in recent years and plays a determining role among foreign investments in Hungary”.
Mr Szijjártó pointed out that the SSC sector is in second place with relation to the sectoral distribution of newly created jobs, with almost 2500 new jobs created in 2016 within the framework of 12 projects. There are 110 shared service centres operating in Hungary, employing some 46 thousand, primarily young people with university degrees, he indicated.
“The SSC sector is a sector that represents high added value, and a host of projects that involve a high level of technological and intellectual value have arrived in the country in recent years within this field”, he pointed out. “If the SSC projects planned for this year are all realised it will mean the creation of over 1600 new jobs requiring a high level of training”, he added.
The Minister recalled that while in 2010 the country had only 1.8 million taxpaying employees, their numbers have since increased to 4.3 million, parallel to which 741 new jobs have been created since 2010 and the rate of unemployment has fallen from 12.5 percent to 4.1 percent.
“The Hungarian economy is approaching a clear turnaround and dimensional transition in which sectors that represent high added value, including the SSC sector, could play an outstanding role”, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out.
“The SSC sector is also important with relation to attracting young Hungarian professionals working abroad, and several companies working within this field have already indicated that they have succeeded in ‘enticing’ young people who had already found work abroad to come home by offering favourable conditions”, the Minister said.
Mr. Szijjártó and President of the HIPA Róbert Ésik presented the SSC Gala Awards. This year, awards for excellence among enterprises were presented to Nokia and MOL, while the award for best company director went to Managing Director of the Lexmark Budapest Competence Centre, Péter Csucska.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
