Press Release: Diamantopoulou welcomes Hungary’s agreement to shadow Community employment strategy in run-up to accession

Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou and Hungarian Minister Iván Stumpf of the Prime Minister's office will sign on 16 November 2001 a joint assessment by the European Commission and Hungary of the country's progress in preparing its jobs market for EU membership. The assessment already carried out for five other candidate countries recognises Hungary's success in moving towards a market economy, increasing its productivity and cutting joblessness to 6.4% of the workforce. However, it also points to low overall employment rate of 56.4% (EU-15: 64.3%) and points to the need for more work incentives in the tax and benefit systems and a better match between labour demand and supply.