The Government’s employment measures have been bearing fruits: according to KSH data for December 2017-February 2018, the number of people with a job rose by more than 750 thousand compared to 2010, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said.

Job incentives, investment promotion programmes, pro-activity measures and the six-year wage agreement have been the main factors behind the decrease by two-thirds of the unemployment rate, from 12 percent eight years ago to 3.8 percent now. The number of people working abroad declined by 20 thousand, while that of people in public work schemes was down by 40 thousand over the past one year, which have also added to private sector job growth of 129 thousand. Currently, the number of people in employment is some 4.5 million in Hungary, which means that alongside economic growth the number of job has also been rising steadily, he said.

Due to the reckless economic policy pursued by leftist governments, the number of jobless people was almost half a million in 2010, and this figure has fallen by two-thirds, to 178 thousand by now, he pointed out. Following a steady downtrend of 68 consecutive months, the unemployment rate now stands at 3.8 percent, which figure places Hungary as the country with the fourth lowest unemployment rate within the EU.

As Mihály Varga stressed, the main task of coming months was to mobilize labour reserves, promote mobility and bolster vocational and adult education. The Government-initiated six-year wage and tax agreement is seen to continue to boost job growth, first by stimulating job-seeking activity and second by helping retain Hungarian labour in the country, he noted.

The capacity expansion projects hitherto announced by enterprises, rising household consumption, housing projects driven by Government incentives and the acceleration of the imbursement of EU funds are also all expected to add momentum to employment growth, the Minister stated.

(Ministry for National Economy)