A rapid decrease in unemployment is a short-term priority to limit social problems and reduce the risk of rising structural unemployment. To this end, strengthening labour market policies to sustain labour demand is key. The public works programme should remain temporary and become more focused on training. The authorities should also refrain from further raising the minimum wage. Fundamental structural reforms are needed in the medium term to raise one of the lowest participation rates in the OECD. This challenge is acute in the context of a rapidly ageing population. The authorities have started restructuring the tax/benefit system to make work pay and increase labour supply, yet additional efforts are needed to foster the inclusiveness of the labour market. Groups which are significantly under-represented in the labour market include the low-skilled, youth, the elderly, women of childbearing age, the disabled and the Roma. Structural measures are needed to develop part-time and other flexible forms of employment, reform family policies, ease the integration of people with disability into the labour market, better attune the education system to labour market needs, enhance the level of qualifications and skills at different ages, diminish disincentives to work at older ages and break the segregation of the Roma. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Survey of Hungary (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/hungary)
