Hungary’s ban on Sunday shopping ban cost more than 2,000 people their jobs in the commercial sector by the end of April 2015, blokkk.com has reported, citing the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) data.
Additionally, the number of overtime hours rose to five-year highs.
During the month of April, the KSH recorded a total of 378,000 overtime hours in the retail trade, which is the highest figure in the past five years.
The last time more overtime hours were recorded was in 2008, but at that time the number of workers in the sector was also higher.
Last Thursday, state newswire MTI cited news portal PestiSrácok.hu which said the scare of mass layoffs related to the Sunday shopping ban was a bluff. It said that there is actually a shortage of labour in the sector, because bad working conditions and extremely low wages are attractive only to a very few people.
The hypermarket sector is struggling with a major labour shortage, with existing employees often having to carry an extra burden, according to portfolio.hu.
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