Spatial Research of the Labour Reserve in the Winery Center of the Danube Wine Region (2014–2019)

In Hungary, the positive impact of the wine sector on rural areas has encouraged Hungarian and EU policy makers to provide significant development support to wineries. One of the main objectives of the support was to increase employment in rural areas. In the period 2014–2019, nearly €60 million was awarded to support the development of wine businesses in Hungary. The aim of our research is to examine how labour supply in the Danube wine region, Hungary’s largest wine region, has changed over the period covered by the wine sector development aid. We analysed the spatial distribution and concentration of several groups of potential labour supply in the study area. The Dual-index and the Hoover-index were used to measure spatial disparities. To measure the spatial concentration of jobseekers, we calculated the location quotient and then examined the spatial pattern of the resulting municipality-level concentration values using the Local Moran I statistic, a local test function of spatial autocorrelation. As a result of our research, we identified the spatial specificities of the potential labour pool available in the study area. The results are useful for business decisionmakers planning to expand or reorganise their human resources. In addition, knowledge of the characteristics of the available potential workforce will support the definition of future development directions, in particular with regard to human resource expansion.