Katalin Lipták

After beginning by the analysis of EU legal texts in the context of employment policy, evoking the infl uence of globalisation, the author undertakes the statistical research on Hungarian labour market (mainly age and gender) and concentrates her study on the north region

My paper presents the employment situation by the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) in the recent years. I have chosen the analysis of the employment policy, unemployment and the regional disparities because they have been more and more used in the economy and can be considered an actual question.
The extensive economic literature deals with the role of the state it plays in the area of employment and revitalising demand in order to treat economic crisis; it also includes the probable benefi ts and drawbacks of the measures.
My hypothesis states that the employment position of the Visegrad Four is different in the European Union relation, and in the V4 relations, its human resource position is weak, the level of employment is low, which is infl uenced by several factors and the four countries have different employment trends. The methodology of the paper is the analysis of available statistical data, the study and critical analysis of the situation.

The subject of our article is the examination of „working chance instead of support” programs. The basic element of the analysis is a questionnaire, which was fi lled in by the local governments and non-governmental organizations in the region of Northern Hungary. The results are analyzed with statistical methods (correlation, regression analysis etc.). The main goal is to get signifi cant information, appraise the experiences of „The Way to Work” Program, disclosing of development chances, presentation of settlement differences derived from the size. Finally we formulate suggestions to a sensitive employment policy.

Different methods can be selected from the statistical mathematical toolbar to describe labor market processes. The paper applies Markov model, a method rarely used in regard to labor market. This method is popular in several disciplines including regional economics to manage income inequalities, sociology, microeconomics and public health. The advantage of the model is that it illustrates well the mobility in each status making it easier to generate predictions. The paper examines NUTS3 level unemployment data in Hungary over the period 1992–2009 using Markov chain model.