Gender gaps in employment are persistent in Hungary and the OECD: in 2020 women’s employment rates were about 15 percentage points lower than men’s employment rates in Hungary and across the OECD on average. In 2021, the recorded women’s employment rate increased by 6 percentage points to 68% reducing the gender employment gap to just below 10%. In large part, this reduction was simply due to a definitional change in the European Labour Force Statistics applied from 1 January 2021 onwards – counting those who worked before the parental leave, receive job-related income and are guaranteed to return to their previous job as employed, in addition to active workers receiving childcare benefits.

Employment growth in Hungary has been strong in recent years, but as men’s employment rates increased faster than women’s, the gender employment gap increased to almost 15% in 2020, wider than at any point since the mid‑1990s. For 2021, the definitional change in the European Labour Force Statistics contributed to a marked increase of women’s employment to 68% in Hungary, compared to 63.4% in the European Union on average, and helped reduce the gender employment gap to just below 10%. Nevertheless, women’s employment patterns in Hungary remain different from men’s in other aspects too: women in paid work often work shorter hours than men even though the gender gap in working hours is small in international comparison. Women also often work in different sectors and occupations than men, with fewer opportunities for career progression, and on average women earn less than employed men.

This chapter provides an overview of the key issues covered in the report. It illustrates the gender gaps in labour market statistics and considers issues related to gender roles in families with very young children in Hungary. It then presents an overview of key Hungarian policies related to leave around childbirth, early childhood education and care services and flexible working arrangements, and complements it with selected international policy examples. This is followed by a series of policy recommendations in these three areas that could support a reduction of the gender employment gap in Hungary, with a special focus on the labour market attachment and participation of mothers of young children. The last section presents the methodology and structure of the report.

This chapter provides an assessment of gender employment gaps in Hungary. Building on secondary data from OECD databases as well as original OECD analyses of labour force survey microdata, it describes and discusses gender gaps in paid employment and working hours in Hungary. It also examines related gender gaps, including gender occupational segregation and gender gaps in career attainment, earnings and entrepreneurship. It also gives a closer look at the labour market situation of parents and, specifically, mothers with very young children in Hungary.

This chapter starts with an analysis of the gender role attitudes concerning the division of unpaid work and childcare within the household as well as towards women’s employment in Hungary. It also provides an overview of the overall family policy package in Hungary and of recent reforms aimed at making it easier for mothers with very young children to return to work. It then analyses some of the causes of the low levels of paid work among mothers with very young children in Hungary – including extended breaks for care reasons, family preferences, limited availability of childcare services and limited part-time and flexible working opportunities.

This chapter analyses paid parental leave policies in Hungary. It explains the main characteristics of the fully-sharable family-based parental leave system operated in Hungary and provides an overview of the duration of paid maternity leave, paid parental leave available to mothers, paid paternity leave and paid parental leave reserved for fathers from an international comparative perspective. It then presents a selection of international practice in paid leave to stimulate a more equal sharing of caring responsibilities, focusing on individual paid parental leave entitlements, bonus periods in parental leave, and targeted support. It concludes with a number of takeaways on policy approaches related to parental leave.

This chapter examines the Hungarian system of early childhood education and care (ECEC), with a focus on services for children under age three. It analyses the enrolment of children in ECEC, central government’s financial support to ECEC as well as policy reforms introduced to increase the supply of places in Hungary. It also examines the regional variation in the availability of childcare and the causal effect of childcare on maternal employment in Hungary. It complements this analysis with an overview of key developments in ECEC in the context of COVID‑19. It then presents a selection of international practice in ECEC, focusing on the importance of public investment to ensure universal, affordable and accessible ECEC; flexibility in use and provision, and; earmarked provision and proportionate universalism. It also dedicates a section to employer-provided childcare and concludes with a number of takeaways on policy approaches on ECEC.

This chapter analyses flexible working practices in Hungary, with a focus on telework, before and during the pandemic. It examines the increase of telework in Hungary during the pandemic, shares evidence on employers’ attitudes regarding home office, and provides information on a recent revision of the provisions on teleworking regulation in Hungary. It then examines a selection of international practice related to flexible working arrangements and telework, focusing on examples of “right to request” policies, as well as complementary interventions that are supportive of telework practices. It concludes with a number of takeaways on policy approaches related to telework and flexible working arrangements.