ABSTRACT
Economic changes — generated by the regime transformation of the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as by globalization — have affected people's life chances in Hungary substantially. As prior studies have shown, economic restructuring had a salient impact on men's and women's career chances; this cannot be restricted to the young generation but refers also to older people (Bukodi and Róbert 2002, 2003). In the first half of the 1990s, the risk of occupational career mobility increased significantly for all cohorts regardless of their age. Even the experienced ones were forced to adjust their employment track to the new demands. Kolosi and Róbert (2004) revealed that exactly one third of the population left the labor market from 1988 to 2003. Half of them left paid employment for demographic reasons, whereas the other half was compelled to leave the labor market. Many of them became pensioners after a period of inactivity, and therefore were certain not to return.
