Unemployment at 4.3 percent in December

In absolute terms, there were 200,000 unemployed, 10,000 more than in November and up 59,000 from a year earlier, KSH said. In annual comparison, the jobless rate grew by 1.2 percentage points.

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

KSH noted that data from the National Employment Service (NFSZ) show there were 291,000 registered jobseekers at the end of December, 23.8 percent more than twelve months earlier.

The three-month rolling average number of employed stood at 4,482,300 in December, 37,300 fewer than in the same period a year earlier. The employment rate was 60.5 percent, down from 61.0 percent a year earlier.

The number of employed included 92,100 Hungarians in fostered work programmes and 94,900 working abroad. The number of those employed on the domestic primary labour market edged up 0.1 percent to 4,295,300, while the number of fostered workers dropped by 14.8 percent. The number of those working abroad fell by 20.9 percent.

As with the unemployment data, KSH also published standalone employment figures for the month of December. These show the number of employed Hungarians rose by 4,000 to 4,500,000 from November but fell by 14,000 from twelve months earlier.