The paper analyses how the municipality-level unemployment rates of 1993 and their changes in 1993-2001 were affected by the availability of urban labour markets in Hungary. The year 1941 share of the Jewish population is used as an instrument for availability, in order to mitigate endogeneity,...

Based on the microbased panel datasets of the Labour Force Survey between 1998 and 2010 and the administrative Pension Fund data between 2000 and 2006 we analyse the number, composition and subsequent labour market behaviour of former public sector employees in Hungary. We show that the greater...

The paper looks at the effect of exceptionally large fluctuations in the level of public sector pay on the number and quality of workers moving from the private to the public sector in Hungary. Special emphasis is put on the unique pay rises taking place before and after the 2002 elections. The...