Jobless rate up slightly to 3.5 percent

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

In absolute terms, there were 172,900 unemployed, 12,600 more than a month earlier but 16,400 fewer than in July 2021.

The rolling three-month average jobless rate stood at 3.3 percent in July, up from 3.2 percent in June but down from 4.1 percent twelve months earlier.

The monthly jobless rate for the 15- to 64-year-old age group stood at 3.5 percent, up from 3.3 percent in the previous month but down from 3.9 percent a year earlier.

KSH uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of jobless 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 231,000 registered jobseekers at the end of July, down 11.8 percent from twelve months earlier.

The employment rate for the 15-74 age group reached 64.3 percent in July, slipping from 64.7 percent in June but up from 64.0 percent twelve months earlier. In absolute terms, there were 4,713,700 employed in July, 25,800 fewer than in June but 9,400 more than twelve months earlier.

The number of economically active people in the age group stood at 4,886,600, giving Hungary an activity rate of 66.7 percent.

Magyar Bankholding chief analyst Andras Horvath said employment remains “at a peak” as the local labour market appears to be unaffected by the negative external environment, for the time being. He added that the increase in employment has been slow in spite of strong labour market demand, indicating skills and geographical mismatches.

The analyst put the full-year jobless rate at 3.3 percent.