Culture & Identity of Hungary
Introduction
Hungary is an ever changing country and this is true in their way of life. The country is rapidly changing from their communist past to the present, in which the Hungarians are in favor of an open market economy filled with opportunities. However, there are also numerous similarities as much of the country is urbanized (nearly 70%) and so much of the country is based in Budapest, which leads so much of the culture, including the daily way of life to a great degree.
As the economy is changing, there are more jobs opening in the services sector, but some people still make a living on agriculture (about 10%) and nearly a third of the people work in heavy industry, a result from the communist efforts to industrialize the country. Each of these sectors offers a different daily life as agriculture requires long summer hours, many industry jobs have various shifts, and the services industries are slowly shifting to more entertainment-based jobs, giving these people irregular working hours. More shops are also now open on weekends, a rarity in the past, leading to more jobs with irregular hours.
Despite the differences, most people work regular hours in Hungary, with the work day generally beginning at about 7:00 or 8:00 am and lasting until about 5:00 or 6:00 pm. Like these regular hours, schools also have consistent hours. School runs from September to late June and the day runs from about 8:00 am to about 1:00 to 3:00 pm.