Companies that made use of the three wage support programmes launched by the government in the spring were typically viable companies with relatively low debt with temporary liquidity problems, according to an analysis by the National Bank of Hungary.
The government launched three programmes — one giving wage support for those working reduced hours, another giving wage support for staff working in R+D+I and a third subsidising job creation — in the spring to fight and reduce the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on employment. Fully 9% of the applications came from medium-size and big companies which, however, employed 74% of the applicants’ total staff. While 93% of the participating companies were domestically owned, their share was only 57% in terms of employment of the applicants. The share of big companies and foreign-owned ones was highest in the R+D scheme, in line with their higher ratio in the field.
MTI
