Hard to find a job: Unemployment has risen in Hungary

Hungary’s jobless rate was 3.8 percent at the end of May, edging down from 3.9 percent in April, but inching up from 3.4 percent twelve months earlier, data released by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) on Friday show.

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

In absolute terms, there were 186,200 unemployed, 3,900 fewer than in April but 19,400 more than twelve months earlier.

In March-May, the unemployment rate was at 3.9 percent, down from 4.0 percent in the previous three-month period, but rising from 3.4 percent twelve months earlier. The number of jobseekers between the ages of 15-74 rose by 26,800 from a year earlier to 191,500.

The average duration of job search was 9.7 months, and 36.3 percent of the unemployed had been looking for a job for at least a year.

Meanwhile, the average number of employed persons aged 15-74 in May came to 4.710 million, 26,000 more than the previous year. In the March-May period, the number of employed was 4.704 million, 10,000 more than a year earlier.

Commenting on the data, the economic development ministry noted that the 26,000-strong increase came amid an economic situation plagued by the war in Ukraine and the European Union’s sanctions against Russia.

The ministry said in a statement that the government aims to maintain dynamic economic growth and the high level of investments. This is also served by the recently adopted law on guest workers, they said, adding that foreign workers can only be employed if the vacancies cannot be filled with Hungarians.

In order to support businesses and protect jobs, the government also adopted measures capping electricity prices for companies in certain sectors and allowing pharmaceutical companies to write off half of their windfall profit tax taking into account their investments, the statement added.