The seemingly unbreakable poverty

For a lot of people, the path to making a living stops right at the first hurdle. Until we change that, the poverty trap will stay locked.

According to a 2024 study by the Egyensúly Institute, 2.5–3 million people in Hungary live in poverty. It's wrong to just see this as an individual problem—when people are struggling, it leads to lower productivity, lost tax income, and less money to spend, which ends up being a problem for the whole economy. So, poverty affects everyone in the end.

But the solution isn't just up to social policies. The best way to reduce poverty and help people move up the social ladder is by helping those in need find their way back into the job market, earn enough to live decently, and break free from the poverty trap. There's plenty of talk about policies to make this happen, but one important issue doesn't get enough attention, even though it impacts a lot of people: the geographical barriers to finding work.

Being able to cover transportation costs is just as essential for getting a job as staying healthy, having the right clothes, or being able to take care of kids or elderly relatives. But for many people living in poverty, even short commutes—sometimes just 10–20 kilometers—can feel like an impossible barrier.

We talk about transport poverty or exclusion when someone's ability to move around is limited due to financial reasons or their life situation. In Hungary, this is especially important to address because jobs are often concentrated in specific areas, which makes commuting more crucial. Between 2011 and 2022, the percentage of workers commuting from their home town to another location increased by 8 percentage points, from 34% to 42%, while the share of those working in their own town dropped from 66% to 58%.

On the other hand, the labor attraction power of county seats has grown even in towns outside their immediate area, which has contributed to the increasing concentration of jobs. This is closely tied to the fact that Hungary has one of the longest commuting times among European Union countries. From all of this, it's clear: in the future, it will still be a key issue whether someone can leave their town in order to join the workforce.