Hungary’s jobless rate drops to 7.1pc in August-October

Budapest(MTI) – The three-month rolling jobless rate in Hungary was 7.1 percent in August-October, down from 7.4 percent in July-September, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said today.

This compares with 9.8 percent August-October a year earlier.

The number of unemployed averaged at 319,400 in August-October. The figure was down 13,200 from the previous three-month period and down 114,300 from the same period a year earlier, KSH said.

A total of 49.9 percent of the unemployed had been seeking a job for one year or more. The average time spent looking for work was 19.4 months.

KSH noted that the National Labour Office registered 395,200 job-seekers in Hungary at the end of October 2014, down 19.1 percent from twelve months earlier.

Analyst Peter Deaki of Buda-Cash said the improvement was positive but fostered job schemes continued to make a substantial contribution.

Senior analyst Andras Balatoni of ING Bank said labour demand had started growing in the private sector as well as labour intensive sectors such as the construction industry in the first half of this year. He noted that fostered job schemes were also extensive, with around 200,000 people involved in these programmes.

Raising the number of fostered workers by another 50,000 next year could trigger wage inflation, Balatoni said, warning against keeping labour demand artificially high at this phase in the economic cycle.

Commenting on the data, the economy minister said economic growth of the recent period and lower taxes on labour had sown the seeds of higher employment. Consequently, the number of employed will soon reach 4.2 million, Mihaly Varga insisted, noting at the same time a major rise in the employment of women (currently 1.9 million).

Sandor Czomba, economic state secretary for labour, told a news conference that manufacturing jobs had risen by 64,000 in August-October compared with the same period last year, while in the construction industry there were 21,000 more employees. Farm jobs increased by 12,000 while 10,000 jobs were added in commerce, he noted. Czomba emphasised that the employment rate is at a 22-year high, with than four million now in employment.

Eva Kurucz, the government’s spokeswoman, said that the rise in the employment rate meant “we have taken another step towards defeating poverty”.

Photo: gratisography.com

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters