According to the latest report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the number of people in employment has continued to grow. In the period August-October 2014, the number of people aged 15-74 years in employment increased by 192 thousand to 4 million 184 thousand year-on-year. The fact that the private sector remained an engine of employment growth demonstrates the success of the Government’s employment schemes.
The employment ratio of those aged 15-64 was up by 3.6 percentage points to 62.9 percent. As far as the gender aspect of employment is concerned, indicators have improved significantly for both men and women. The employment rate of men aged 15-64 years gained 4.3 percentage points and reached 69.6 percent, while that of women was 56.4 percent following an increase of 3 percentage points in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year. The number of women in employment remained above the 1.9 million mark with an increase of 76 thousand over the past one year. In comparison to data of one year ago, the employment rate of those aged 15-24 years edged up by 3.8 percentage points and thus the number of those with a job in that category was 268 thousand.
In the period August-October 2014, the unemployment rate fell by 2.7 percentage points to 7.1 percent year-on-year, which is the best figure since 2007. This means that in the observed period the number of jobless was down by 114 thousand to 319 thousand. The number of women out of work dropped by 43 thousand or 2.2 percentage points over the past one year and thus Hungary is one of the EU’s top performers in this field.
Incoming data show that employment growth is accelerating and this has a favourable impact on both fiscal revenues and household consumption. Lowering taxes on labour, the Job Protection Action Plan and the positive economic U-turn of 2013 have been the main factors behind this remarkable employment growth.
(Ministry for National Economy)
