Hungary is the 'jewel in the crown' of the European outsourcing market, according to Datamonitor, a British market research company, which in December published a cost comparison of outsourcing telephone customer service centres to 14 different countries.

The survey showed that the per worker cost was lowest in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, whilst operating outsourced centres is most expensive in Canada and South Africa.

Argentina and Canada represent the two extremes. In the former, the average hourly cost per customer service worker is $10, in the latter, it is $23.
The figures include wage, contribution, property rental, telecommunications and tax costs.

According to Datamonitor, Hungary is not one of the cheapest countries:
costs per worker are $16.70, 53% of which is accounted for by wage and contributions costs. Telecoms infrastructure accounts for a further 19% of costs, and property rental amounts to a further 16%.

Dr Peter Ryan, a Datamonitor analyst, says that the lowest-cost country is not always the best place to outsource to. "One of Hungary's advantages is certainly the well-trained, polyglot labour force, but the fact that you can find the necessary infrastructure not just in Budapest, but in provincial cities as well is also a major factor," he told HVG.