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In Hungary’s Steel City, Layoffs Hurt Orbán’s Appeal

Why didn’t Orbán’s government, once a critic of what it called a “bad privatization,” save jobs?

“Icannot imagine a society without people with grease on their hands.” Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán has long called creating a “work-based society” the key to his country’s future. It’s underpinned his distinctive brand of right-wing politics, and inspired the “pro-worker” conservatism touted by figures like Tucker Carlson. Endorsing Orbán ahead of Sunday’s election, Donald Trump likewise stressed his record of job creation.

In Dunaújváros, the contradictions are obvious. Orbán’s brand of state interventionism has not uplifted workers’ position through labor rights or a stronger safety-net, but counted on deals with multinational capital to employ Hungarian workers. In the post-crisis years, this paid off electorally, even if talk of winning economic sovereignty remained a mirage. Yet today, with the war in Ukraine and the ever-escalating conflict in the Middle East, this balancing act is harder to maintain. Ahead of Sunday’s vote, working-class Hungarians may be less convinced to turn out for Orbán.

This story has some truth to it. In the decade after Orbán returned to power in 2010, Hungary’s working population expanded by around 20 percent. Not only did German auto giants build up production here, but a construction boom, plus “workfare” programs, pushed employment rates above the EU average. If stories about “pro-family” policies often cast Hungary as a nation of stay-at-home moms, more Hungarian women are in-work than their EU counterparts. It’s also key to Orbán’s support among Roma people.

Orbán has himself claimed that his hopes of re-election on April 12 depend on workers turning out to vote. His Fidesz party has not just consolidated power by extending its reach over the media and the state apparatus but built real support among wide swathes of the population. Yet, for many Hungarians this rhetoric about a “work-based society” is today losing its luster. It’s a major reason why after Sunday’s election, Orbán, too, may be out of a job.

To understand this weakness, it’s important to recognize different phases in Orbán’s rule.

Analyst Dávid Karas tells me that in the first years after the 2008 financial crash Fidesz promised to win back Hungary’s “economic sovereignty,” while basing living standards on wages, not borrowing or benefits. Yet reindustrialization remained reliant on foreign direct investment, and preparing a low-cost workforce for multinationals. Orbán’s talk of “greasy hands,” Karas says, was also a retort to opposition claims that the government wasn’t investing in higher education. Blue-collar work offered a way to a “more dignified and stable society than producing jobless and socially useless graduates.”

This low-wage model has, however, stopped earning good grades. As sociologist Ábel Csathó tells me, while Hungarian employment rates rose strongly throughout the 2010s, this progress tapered off since the pandemic. In fact, Hungarian living standards have dropped to the lowest in the European Union. Faced with the current war in Iran, shocks like rising gas prices may further threaten Hungary’s future as a global industrial hub.

Some weaknesses of this model were visible even earlier, as shown by events in Dunaújváros, long one of Hungary’s main industrial centers. The story of its historic steelworks, which closed in 2024, shows how the Orbán government allowed multinational owners to wreck a major strategic industry, letting it go to the wall even as it pledged to save jobs.

Iheaded to Dunaújváros on a Saturday, three weeks before the election. A postwar new........

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