Of the 1,620 active workers, 1,024 Hungarian and 272 Slovak employees have already found work, said Szabolcs Pákozdi, head of the national employment foundation OFA.

The OFA will keep an office in Komárom until July 2015, to help former Nokia employees in consultations and training, he added.

The government also announced direct support for those who have lost their jobs at Nokia. The Finnish telecoms company was once amongst the largest in Hungary in terms of annual revenues with sales of €3.6 billion in 2010, or 3.6% of GDP.

In its heyday the company employed 10,000 in Hungary, including contracted workers.

Nokia began to downsize its Hungarian unit as it lost market share to Apple and Samsung, and revenues last year tumbled to €1 billion.

Microsoft, which acquired Nokia’s handset business this year, announced in July that it would shut down the Komárom factory.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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