“The number of people in employment has increased by over 811 thousand since 2010, of which the increase within the private sector exceeded 700 thousand people; this has contributed significantly to fact that the Hungarian economy is performing outstandingly even at European level”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said, commenting on the latest data published by the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

“The number of people in employment has set another record, with 4 million 521 thousand people now working in Hungary, while the rate of employment has increased to its highest ever level of 70.3 percent”, the Minister highlighted.

“The increase in employment has occurred predominantly within the private sector, parallel to which the number of people working within the public work programme has fallen to around one hundred thousand, meaning the structure of the job market is becoming increasingly healthy”, Mr. Varga highlighted. As he explained, together with an improvement in contacts with businesses, the job market reform programme aimed at improving the efficiency of unemployment offices could further help to fill open positions at enterprises. “Thanks to the government’s employment promotion measures and the increase in employment that goes hand in hand with Hungary’s permanently high level of economic growth, unemployment has been continuously decreasing year on year for 87 consecutive months, and is currently at 3.5 percent”, he added.

Mr. Varga stressed that employment in Hungary may be further increased via a continued increase in activity, the restructuring of vocational training, re-training courses and programmes facilitating entrepreneurship. The targeted support being provided to jobseekers, pensioners who wish to work and public work scheme participants, who represent a labour reserve, could enable more and more people to successfully find employment on the primary job market, he explained.

In the interests of this, the government has made the employment of pensioners simpler, is supporting the employment of women with small children within the framework of the Family Protection Action Plan, and has also improved personnel and recruitment services. In addition, efficiency improvement measures introduced by enterprises and their more efficient workforce management could further increase the number of enterprises producing high added value in Hungary, the Minister told reporters.

(Ministry of Finance)