Jobless rate edges down to 3.5 pc in May in Hungary

Hungary’s jobless rate was 3.5 percent in May, down from 3.6 percent in the previous month and from 3.9 percent twelve months earlier, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday.

The rate covers unemployment among people between the ages of 15 and 74. There were 168,500 unemployed in Hungary in May, 7,800 fewer than a month earlier and 20,900 fewer than in May 2021.

The rolling three-month average jobless rate stood at 3.4 percent, slipping from 3.5 percent in April and 4.1 percent twelve months earlier. The monthly jobless rate for the 15- to 64-year-old age group stood at 3.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent in the previous month and 4.0 percent a year earlier.

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KSH uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of joblessness which includes people who are without work, people who carried out activities to seek employment in the previous past four weeks, and people who did not look for work but made arrangements for a future job start within two weeks.

KSH noted that data from the National Employment Service (NFSZ) show there were 234,000 registered jobseekers at the end of May, down by 14.7 percent from twelve months earlier.