A kis- és középvállalati szektor Magyarországon[The small and medium enterprise sector in Hungary]

In Hungary, more than 670,000 SMEs operate (99% coverage), which employ the 70% of all employees, more than 1.9 million people. The operating small and medium-sized enterprises are characterized by a strong territorial concentration: Central Hungary's weight is outstanding (40%). In the case of organizations, micro-enterprises dominate in all regions, at national level more than 94% of enterprises operate in this form. The main goal is to bring productivity and wage rise simultaneously, thus enabling Hungary to rise above the labor-cost – benefit competitiveness model and the medium-level trap. In terms of its labor productivity per employee, Hungary is somewhat below the average of the Visegrád countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). In the Visegrád region, the productivity of Hungarian manufacturing SMEs grew to a small extent (2.7%), while the growth rate of the service sector (3.5%) was the highest in the region. Six main themes can be identified, which clearly reduce the domestic and international competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises: weaknesses in the state and Union support system, low productivity and wage levels, moderate research and innovation performance, high public burdens and a lot of administrative burden. Therefore, the main objective is to strengthen the competitiveness.