In Hungary, the number of people in employment continued to rise, as 54 thousand more people were in employment in July-September 2013 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) announced in a flash report. The total number of people in employment thus reached a historic peak of 3 million 990 thousand.

This figure is 1.4 percent higher in comparison to the level registered in the same period of 2012, accordingly, the employment rate increased to 52.3 percent among those aged 15-74 years. The downward employment trend could be reversed already in the second half of 2010, and since then constant employment growth has been observed.

Within the age bracket of 15-24 years, 235 thousand people were employed and thus the respective employment rate was up year-on-year by 1.7 percentage points to 20.7 percent. Year-on-year, the number of unemployed people in Hungary declined by 24 thousand to 434 thousand in the period July-September 2013, a decrease of 0.6 percent. Accordingly, the unemployment rate continued to fall to 9.8 percent. Thanks to Government measures – such as the Job Protection Action Plan or the First Job Guarantee Programme – unemployment has been steadily declining and employment has been improving.

As a result of Government efforts, the Hungarian economy has been back on a growth path which underpins the expectations of accelerating job and employment growth, the speed of which in the near future is anticipated to be even more dynamic than before.

(Ministry for National Economy)