Jobless rates at historic high in Hungary

Hungary’s rolling average three-month jobless rate dropped to 4.1 percent in July-September from 4.2 percent in the previous month and 4.9 percent in the same period a year earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday.

The rate covers unemployment among Hungarians between the ages of 15 and 74.

In absolute terms, there were 188,500 unemployed in Hungary in July-September, 7,000 less than in June-August and 38,000 less than in the same period a year earlier.

The unemployment rate among 15-24-year-olds stood at 11.3 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Still, the age group accounted for about one-fifth of all unemployed, KSH noted.

Out-of-work Hungarians spent about 15.4 months on average looking for employment during the period.

About 40.6 percent of the unemployed had been seeking work for one year or longer.

The number of employed Hungarians during the period stood at 4,450,700, up 6,300 from the previous three-month period and up 60,000 compared to one year earlier. The employment rate was 59.7 percent, slightly up from 59.6 percent in the previous month and up from 58.5 percent from a year earlier.

The employment rate in July-September stood at 67.5 percent for men and at 52.4 percent for women.

The number of employed included 190,900 Hungarians in fostered work programmes and 110,800 working abroad. The number of those employed on the domestic primary labour market rose by 2.4 percent from a year earlier, while the number of fostered workers dropped by 15.4 percent. The number of those working abroad was down 2.1 percent.

As we wrote, around 20,000-30,000 people are missing from the Hungarian construction industry mostly because, although the price of workmanship has increased, the structure of the collectively agreed wages is still improper and the increased wages still do not reach  people at the lower stages.