Promoting Labour Market Participation of Parents With Young Children in Hungary

Abstract

Work-life balance is at the heart of Hungarian family policy, and after 2010 Hungary took significant steps to support parents to work and have children at the same time. This article presents complex and flexible measures that offer tailor-made solutions for families in different life situations. These include maternity, paternity and, more generally, parental and grandparental leave and benefits, which allow parents to care for and raise their children at home while at the same time providing strong labour market protection and labour market participation. While time spent with children contributes significantly to the development of a strong parent-child bond, it also poses challenges in terms of returning to the labour market. In order to minimise the obstacles to employment, parents in Hungary have access to a wide range of state support and childcare services. The article aims to provide a horizontal picture of how the overall objective of balancing work and family responsibilities is implemented at the micro level (individual and family level) and macro level (social and economic level) in Hungary. This is based on the work and family-based social model that has been under construction since 2010.