new competencies and
innovations in logistics

1.1 General Economic Situation
The Hungarian economy went through enormous changes in the past decade, bringing about changes to the following areas: ownership relations, nature of competition, size of companies, external relations, supply chains, labour market, efficiency and work requirements.

These transformations in the economy led to changes in the type of jobs available. Due to the new situation regarding international trade and customer requirements, companies and employees have had to adjust to meet with new circumstances.

Graphique 1. Export - Import activity

1.2 Hungarian Statistical Situation
The Hungarian statistical system is regulated by the official Act XLVI of 1993 and Act CVIII of 1999 on statistics. The importance of statistics in Hungary is reflected in the status of the head of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO), who holds the rank of minister.

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office produces statistics for the following organisations:

1. The ministries
2. The Office of the National Council of the Judiciary
3. The Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor
4. The National Bank of Hungary
5. The office for Economic Competition

The Hungarian Central Statistical office coordinates the collection of statistical data from a number of regional statistical offices around Hungary.

There is great respect for the Hungarian statistical system, with companies conforming to requests for statistical input. This respect is no doubt the heritage of a communist past, where state planning was the key to the management of the economy.

2.1 Hungarian occupational classification system
Statistics relating to occupation and profession are classified using the FEOR and the OKJ system, although the latter concentrates more on training requirements.

2.1.1 - Foglalkozások Egységes Osztályozási Rendszerérol (FEOR Unified Occupational Classification System)
FEOR is the list of occupations, including 810 job titles, produced and updated by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. It is widely used to classify important data. The FEOR code refers to the actual position of an employee and must be quoted in work contracts. The FEOR codes quoted in a job contract refer to official job descriptions listed in the FEOR classification.

The FEOR occupational classification currently in use was introduced in 1993 and became operational in 1994. It conforms closely to the ISCO major group levels although it differs slightly to ensure a degree of continuity with the previous Hungarian classification. It is widely used at the four digit level, but also allows for the addition of a fifth and sixth digit (the facility of additional digits does not seemed to be used).

The FEOR system is favourably received by users and is constantly updated to remove obsolete occupations and to add new jobs titles and definitions (the last update was carried out after the 2001 census). In 1996, HCSO published the FEOR93 classification in English (see annex 1).

2.1.2 - Országos Képzési Jegyzék (OKJ National List of Training)
OKJ is the list of categories of vocational training covering 852 professions. This list is co-ordinated by the National Institute for Vocational Training Neimeti Szakkepzek Juteizet (http://www.hszi.hu/). Employees are classified according to their qualifications and certificates issued by accredited examination centres. OKJ accredited training can be organised by vocational schools, private training organisations or even universities.

There is a loose connection between OKJ coding and FEOR. In the description of an OKJ profession there is a cross reference to the FEOR code of the target occupation once training has been completed. Statistics are produced using the OKJ classification system, however these statistics relate to the number of students studying in a particular area and do not give any information about employment rates. Indeed, the statistics are only compiled for the top 40 popular training courses which are not logistics related.

2.2 Logistics related labour market statistics
Reliable annual labour market statistics are not available in Hungary as annual labour market surveys rely upon sampling and the sample sizes used are not considered to be accurate enough for the Novalog project. However, logistics related employment figures are available from the 2001 census and the 1996 micro-census as follows:

On the basis of the census, it is possible to cross reference job data on the basis of the professions listed in the FEOR nomenclature with the sectors of actvity in the NACE nomenclature. The following table sets out the results for some sectors of activity chosen for Novalog.

Other sources of statistics such as unemployment statistics from the "Labour Offices"are available, but are of a far too generalised nature to be of interest to the Novalog study. It is possible to obtain statistics regarding the demand for vocational training, however such statistics would offer a far from complete picture of the national situation.

The data made available through the Hungarian census provide us with a fairly accurate overview of the number of logistics jobs according to the FEOR 4 digit classification. It would appear that this classification is harmonised with the ISCO International Nomenclature of Occupations - indeed a correspondence table has even been drawn up between the two - even though it is more detailed.

The statistics regarding the number of jobs available per sector of activity show that there are a significant number of logistics jobs in the transport sector, although we should bear in mind the fact that the transport sector represents approximately 15% of jobs at a national level (according to the 2001 census).

The HCSO is open to the development of the FEOR list of titles, to incorporate new occupations. Indeed, HCSO intends to incorporate into the FEOR list the new titles identified by the University of Vesprem in the course of their Novalog research.

In the 1990s there was a complete change in the vocational training system in Hungary. Prior to this there had been a linear system which included the following institutions; primary school, vocational/professional school, "gymnasium", professional secondary school, high school and university. This was quite a rigid system, the various organisations offered different programs and did not support the needs for continuing education. The system could not adapt to changing human resource requirements within companies and the challenges of a constantly changing economic environment.

In 1993, the training and classification system was completely changed, making training outside of the school system possible. The OKJ - Országos Képzési Jegyzék (Nationalist List of Training) was also established at this time, providing an extensive training classification system linked to occupations.

The FEOR classification system of 810 job titles, designed to serve statistical purposes, provides a major source of job descriptions. Jobs are defined mainly on a company level and in certain organisations a FEOR classification is required in the work contract. Job descriptions have legal importance in Hungary, particularly in the event of a conflict between employee and employer. There is no strong evidence of sectorial or trade union level job definitions and descriptions.

Work is regulated on a national level through the following types of documents: the Labour Act and collective agreements on a sectorial and company level. These documents mainly deal with working conditions i.e. working hours, overtime regulations etc. They are not, therefore, a source of job definitions. As a result of formal and informal agreements, so-called "flexible" job definitions have recently been banned. Prior to these agreements a catch-all phrase of "and any task requested by the management" was frequently found in Hungarian job definitions.

Limited job description information is available for employment and information purposes. The school and university graduate careers advice sector is not well developed in Hungary. The small amount of information identified was not related to logistics employment. Other useful job descriptions may be found in documents relating to the description of an organisation's activity and documents known as "Statement of Work"(Munkautasítás), see annex 2. The statement of work contains tasks and are a sort of job description. Unlike a job description which states "what to do" a statement of work states "how jobs are to be done". A statement of work is often an integral part of a company's ISO 9000 quality management system. Their structure is generally made up of the title, scope and tasks of the job. Statements of work from companies in the consumer electronics, plastics and printing industries were found as follows:

Job descriptions for training purposes can be found in Hungary, they are very much linked to the OKJ (training) and FEOR (occupational) classification system for collecting statistics.

Országos Képzési Jegyzék (OKJ) is the list of categories for vocational training, covering 852 professions. This list of officially recognised training courses and accredited training centres is managed by the state. Employees are classified according to their qualifications and certificates issued by accredited examination centres. The training courses covered by the OKJ system can be organised by vocational training schools, private training organisations or even universities.

OKJ classifications are loosely linked to FEOR codes as the OKJ target profession to be achieved upon the completion of training is referred to in terms of a FEOR code of occupations. In addition to this link with FEOR, the OKJ system provides the following information per occupation:

• title
• knowledge and requirements of the profession
• training and exam requirements and description of the exam

(See annex 3 for OKJ job descriptions within the area of logistics professions)

Over 250 job descriptions were obtained from Hungarian companies. Below you will find a list of the job definitions most relevant to the Novalog nomenclature. Many job definitions were found within manufacturing companies for those job functions normally carried out by third party logistics provider companies. The absence of a third party logistics sector in Hungary can be seen by the fact that such functions are carried out in-house.

The following logistics job titles were obtained from Hungarian companies:

• Warehouse - goods supervisor
• Warehouse operator - receiving
• Warehouse shift leader
• Logistics Assistant
• Operations Manager
• Supply chain planner

These descriptions were obtained from companies, post-graduate student projects and contacts with professional logistics practioners attending the University of Veszprém training courses.
Some of the descriptions are anonymous and therefore have to be treated as confidential.
A number of the job descriptions found within Hungarian companies are included in annex 4.

The structure of job descriptions is generally as follows:

• title
• Description of the position
• Department/Organisation
• Name of the position
• Place of the position
• Superior/Reporting position
• Subordinates
• Substitutes
• Purpose of the job
• Dimensions: Mostly in quantity, value, number of people
• Main tasks and responsibilities
• Regular, daily tasks
• General tasks, orders, commands
• Specific tasks
• Other tasks

The tasks can be categorised as follows: Degree of freedom in decision-making and frequency.

In some cases there are systems to measure results and performance indicators:
Working conditions/physical operating environment; Responsibilities; Rights; Professional requirements; Physical/mental; Direct/indirect; Graduate status; Professional experience; Managerial experience; Language skills; Computer skills.

Personal requirements:

• Abilities (general - complex approach -company level thinking - realism.)
• Human relations (ability to keep in contact - negotiations - leadership - ability to express oneself.)
• Performance ability (results-driven - personal performance - risk-taking - checking - acceptance of responsibility)
• Motivation (incentives - professional ambitions.)

Date of job description.

• Date : of origin; of last revision, of next revision and/or frequency of revisions.

Acceptance clause including dated signatures of the Employee and his/ her superior.

Statistics relating to occupation and profession are classified using the Foglalkozások Egységes Osztályozási Rendszerérol (FEOR Unified Occupational Classification System), a classification system produced by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (http://portal.ksh.hu). The FEOR list of occupations includes 810 job titles and is widely used to classify important data. The FEOR code refers to the actual position of an employee and must be quoted in work contracts. The FEOR codes quoted in a job contract refer to official job descriptions.
The FEOR description gives a short description of the job, the tasks involved, related jobs and a cross reference to other similar FEOR jobs.

The following job descriptions are available in Hungarian from the FEOR list and are attached in annex 5.

1326 Department managers in transport, forwarding and storage
1345 Supply and distribution managers
1355 Supervisors in transport, forwarding and storage
1416 General managers of small undertakings in transport, forwarding and storage
3623 Materials control clerks, buyers
3624 Stock and management clerks
4121 Stock clerks
5115 Buyers/receivers, merchandise
7530 Stock clerks, warehousemen
8240 Packaging machine operators
8342 Elevator and conveying machine operators
8343 Lift trolley operators
8344 Loading/unloading machine operators
9131 Manual materials handlers, manual packers

Generally, the OKJ classification system for training offers a good method for defining jobs and the associated qualifications. The FEOR Occupational Classification system is also another good source of job definitions. The Hungarian Central Statistics Office is open to the development of the FEOR list of titles, to incorporate new occupations. Indeed, HCSO intends to incorporate, into the FEOR list, the new titles identified by the University of Vesprem in the course of their Novalog research.

Thanks to the influence of international companies present in Hungary, there is not a great difference between Hungarian and EU companies' job descriptions. On a wider sectorial level, there is not much evidence of job descriptions for social purposes. Upon membership of the European Union, social issues will become increasingly important and will potentially produce a greater degree of employment regulations for social purposes.