In the second half of 2010, the downward employment trend was reversed and since then the number of people in employment has been steadily on the rise on a year-on-year basis. The latest statistics also underpin this positive tendency. The latest flash report from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) reveals that in the period May-July 2013 the number of people aged 15-74 years in employment was up by 56 thousand, to 3 million 964 thousand compared to the same period of 2012, which constitutes an increase of 1.4 percent year-on-year. Thus the employment rate edged up to 51.9 percent, the best figure since 1998. The number of economically active people has also risen to a peak of 4 million 409 thousand, a level also last seen in 1998.
In light of the latest KSH labour market statistics, in the period May-July 2013 the employment rate among those aged 15-74 years increased to 51.9 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than one year ago. In the 15-64 year age bracket, the employment rate edged up from 57.6 percent in the same period of last year to 58.7 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points.
In May-July 2013, as far as the gender aspect of employment is concerned, the employment rate for men aged 15-64 years increased by 2.1 percentage points to 64.9 percent, while that of women was 52.8 percent. Trends have also been encouraging with regard to the employment indicators of various age brackets. Among young people within the 15-24 year age group, 225 thousand were in employment in the observed period; the respective employment rate of 19.8 percent for this age bracket was up by 1.6 percentage points in comparison to the level of one year ago. The employment rate for 25-54 year prime working age group increased by 0.7 percentage points, while that of people aged 55-64 years improved by 1.1 percentage points compared to the figures registered one year ago.
Positive trends have also continued concerning unemployment. According to KSH data, in the observed period the number of unemployed people decreased by 13 thousand to 446 thousand, and the unemployment rate improved by 0.4 percentage points falling to 10.1 percent compared to the same period of 2012. The unemployment rate for people of prime working age – 25-54 years – was down by 0.6 percentage points to 9.0 percent in May-July 2013.
The favourable labour market data reflects the achievements of the Government’s innovative employment policies launched over the past years – such as the Job Protection Action Plan, free entrepreneurial zones or the First Job Guarantee Programme. The trend reversal in economic growth is expected to speed up the pace of job creation and, consequently, further improvement on the labour market is anticipated for the upcoming period.
(Ministry for National Economy)