Good job market numbers: Hungary no longer in need for guest workers?

More and more people in Hungary are willing to work, and the number of economically inactive people is down in just about every age group, Márton Nagy, the national economy minister, said on Saturday.

Restoring and further increasing economic growth requires raising the labour market activity rate, Nagy told a conference, according to a ministry statement.

The government aims to increase the employment rate in the 15-64 age group to 85 percent in order for Hungary’s level of development to reach 90 percent of the European Union average, Nagy said.

Citing the latest jobs data, the minister said the unemployment rate has seen only a slight increase, while the number of jobholders is at 4.7 million and the number of jobseekers is at an all-time low.

He said the rise in unemployment was only temporary, adding that it also showed that more and more previously inactive people were entering the job market. He said this was in line with the government’s goal of mobilising the country’s workforce reserves, opening the door to further job growth.

Nagy said the number of economically inactive people was down in just about every age group, mainly in the 15-34 and 55-64 brackets.

Another positive trend, he said, was the decline in the number of fostered workers, who were now also finding jobs on the primary labour market.

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