Hungary’s jobless rate ranks fourth among the EU’s 28 member states
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Hungary’s three-month rolling average jobless rate was 3.5 percent in February-April, down from 3.6 percent in the previous three-month period, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday.
The Feb-Apr figure, which covers unemployment among 15-74 year-olds, was down from 3.8 percent in the same period of the previous year.
In absolute terms, there were 162,400 unemployed, 3,300 fewer than in the previous period and down 14,600 from a year earlier.
The unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group stood at 10.8 percent. The unemployed in this age group account for more than one-fifth of all jobless, KSH noted.
Jobless Hungarians spent about 14 months on average looking for employment during the period.
In the same period, the employment rate was 60.5 percent, up by 0.8 of a percentage point.
The number of employed stood at 4,491,600 among 15-74 year-olds, 46,700 more than in the same period a year earlier.
The number of employed included 117,500 Hungarians in fostered work schemes and 115,400 working abroad. The number of those employed on the domestic primary labour market rose by 1.6 percent from a year earlier to 4,258,700, while the number of fostered workers dropped by 25.5 percent. The number of those working abroad was up 18.8 percent.
Finance Minister Mihály Varga, commenting on the data, said that