"Everybody's hiring," said Sandor Baja, staffing company Randstad's RAND.AS Managing Director for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. By Gergely Szakacs BUDAPEST, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A surge in price growth in eastern Europe has opened a rift between central banks that have launched rate hikes to battle inflation and populist governments trying to defend a strong economic recovery. Facing the prospect of a close election next year after three successive landslides since 2010, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has offered voters handouts in defiance of central bank calls for fiscal restraint.