Jobless rate falls further to 5 percent in May-July – UPDATE

Budapest, August 30 (MTI) – Hungary’s three-month rolling jobless rate eased to 5 percent in May-July from 5.1 percent in April-June, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.

The rate, which covers unemployment among 15- to 74-year-olds, was 6.8 percent in the same period a year earlier.

In absolute terms, there were 228,000 unemployed in Hungary in May-July.

The unemployment rate among 15- to 24-year-olds was down 4.9 percentage points at 12.8 percent. Still the age group accounted for almost one-fifth of all unemployed, KSH noted. The unemployment rate for 25- to 54-year-olds dropped 1.5 percentage point to 4.5 percent and the rate among 55- to 64-year-olds was down 1.9 percentage point at 3.7 percent.

The average period Hungarians spent looking for work was about 19 months. Just under half of the unemployed had been seeking work for one year or more.

The number of employed Hungarians during the period stood at 4,371,900. The employment rate was 58.2 percent.

KSH defines “employed” as anybody who worked one or more hour a week or was temporarily absent from their job during the survey week.

Commenting on the data, economy ministry state secretary Péter Cseresnyés said the number of employed had increased by 660,000 over the past six years and there were still another 250,000 potential job seekers. There is demand for additional workforce in Hungary’s agriculture, IT, catering and manufacturing sectors which requires further education programmes, he told public news channel M1.

In a statement, the economy ministry said that Hungary’s employment rate had broken a new record and its 5 percent unemployment rate is at a record low level since the change in political system.

“Employment in Hungary has continued to rise without interruption thanks to the expanding private sector, the reduction of payroll taxes and the Workplace Protection Programme …” the ministry said.

UPDATE

Commenting on the data, analysts noted that unemployment and employment rates had both broken records in May-July during which period the activity rate had also gone up.

Péter Virovácz, chief analyst at ING Bank, noted that the number of unemployed, below 230,000, had never been this low in Hungary since the regime change.

Gergely Ürmössy, at Erste Bank, said they expect the annual unemployment rate to be at 5.4 percent this year, adding that an easing could further continue next year to an average 5 percent.

Source: MTI