Number of registered jobseekers edges lower

Fully 3,070 Hungarians registered as jobseekers for the first time in May, while there were 26,804 jobseeker registrations, including repeats.

Jobseekers receiving no benefits accounted for 43 percent of the total, while 35 percent had sought work for more than a year. Jobseekers were registered for 495 days on average.

Sandor Czomba, the state secretary for employment policy at the national economy ministry, said after the data was released on Tuesday that the steady decline in the number of registered jobseekers continued in May which saw the third lowest figure since the 1990 change in political system.

There are now 1 million more people working than during the term of the previous Socialist-led government, with an average salary three times higher, he said, adding that compared with 2010, the number of people looking for work has fallen by more than 400,000.

The government’s goal is to boost employment further by mobilising the domestic labour market reserves of around 300,000 people as well as increasing employment among the 20-64 year-olds from the 81 to 85 percent, financed by programmes worth 460 billion forints until 2030.