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Jobless rate slightly up

Hungary's jobless rate was 4 percent in February, up from 3.9 percent in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday.

In February 2023, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 years was 4 million 691 thousand, 26 thousand more than a year earlier.

December 2022 – February 2023 compared to a year before:

The number of employed persons was 15 thousand more, 4 million 690 thousand. While the number of people working in the domestic primary labour market was up by 12 thousand and that of those working abroad grew by 13 thousand, the number of public workers decreased by 10 thousand.

Among the 15–64-year-olds, 4 million 575 thousand people were classified as employed, the employment rate for the age group was 74.3%. For men, the number of people in employment was essentially unchanged at 2 million 420 thousand, with an employment rate of 78.6%. For females, the number of employed persons was 2 million 155 thousand, with an employment rate up by 0.6 percentage points to 70.0%.

In the young age group (of 15–24-year-olds) the number of employed persons was 268 thousand, and their employment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 27.3%. The employment rate among the so called ‘prime’ working-age population (aged 25–54 years) did not change significantly, at 87.7%, while in the older age group (of 55–64-year-olds) it rose by 2.6 percentage points to 67.1%.

Commenting on the data, the economic development ministry said the European Union’s average jobless rate was about 1.5 times higher than that of Hungary. Simultaneous growth in the number of jobholders and jobseekers means that hitherto unregistered workforce is becoming more active in the country, the statement said.

The government is working to protect full employment, avoid recession and push inflation into single digits by year-end through programmes like the Szechenyi Card Programme, the factory saving scheme and the Baross Gabor loan programme for companies, the statement said.

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