At 2.6% of the total number of employed people, the ratio of guest workers in Hungary from countries outside the European Union is the lowest among the Visegrád Group countries, Czomba said.

The comparable rate stands at 3.8% in Slovakia, 6.4% in Poland and 17% in the Czech Republic.

He noted that guest workers could be employed in Hungary only in professions with a shortage of workers from Hungary or other European Union countries. Around 251,000 foreign nationals currently reside in Hungary, including 36,000 students, Czomba said, citing data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

Around 324,000 Hungarian citizens have left the country since 2010, but 219,000 of those people have returned home, he added.

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