Unemployment edges up in July-September

Hungaryʼs three-month rolling average jobless rate stood at 3.5% in July-September, slightly up from the preceding three-month period, but down from 3.8% in the corresponding period of 2018, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.

The rate covers unemployment among those aged 15-74. In absolute terms, there were 162,500 unemployed people, some 5,600 more than in the previous month, but 15,700 fewer than 12 months earlier.

In July–September, compared to a year before, unemployment among men essentially did not change, with a jobless rate of 3.3%. For women, the unemployment rate declined by 0.7 of a percentage point to 3.7%.

The jobless rate in the 15-24 age group stood at 11.4%, up 0.7 of a percentage point year-on-year, with this age group accounting for almost one-quarter of the total.

The unemployment rate in the 25–54 age group, i.e. people belonging to the “best working age,” decreased by 0.4 of a percentage point to 3.0%, while the jobless rate among people aged 55–74 decreased by 0.5 of a percentage point to 2.2%.

Out-of-work Hungarians spent some 12.4 months on average looking for employment during the period, with 34.1% of the unemployed seeking work for one year or longer, i.e. classified as long-term unemployed.

In most regions, the unemployment rate stagnated or decreased slightly, with the largest change occurring in Budapest, where the rate declined by 1.4 percentage points to 2.1%.

According to administrative data of the National Employment Service (NFSz), the total number of registered job seekers decreased by 3.1% to 243,000 in the period.

34,000 more people in work

According to employment data also released by the KSH on Tuesday, the average number of employed people was 4,521,000 in July–September, some 34,200, or 0.8%, more than a year earlier.

The employment rate among Hungarians aged 15–64 rose to 70.3%, up 0.7 of a percentage point. The level of employment remained substantially higher among men (77.4%) than among women (63.1%), and the rate of improvement was also greater for men.

The increase in the domestic primary labor market was 49,200 (up 1.2%), while the number of those working abroad rose by 13,800 (up 13.1%). The number of people declaring work in public employment schemes decreased by 28,700 (down 21%).

The employment rate among young people aged 15–24 was 29.2%, while the rate in the 25–54 age group stood at 84.4%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the employment rate grew by 2.0 percentage points to 56.9%.

The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – grew by 0.8 of a percentage point to 75.4%. The European Union has set a target of 75% by 2020; in Hungary, the employment rate in this age group currently stands at 83.2% for men and 67.8% for women.

Unemployment and employment figures for the next three-month period of August–October will be published on November 27.

Photo by Fizkes/Shutterstock.com

Source : bbj.hu