Published on: 26 April 2024

4 million 746 thousand people in employment, unemployment rate at 4.4%

In March 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 increased by 38 thousand from the same period of the previous year, to 4 million 746 thousand. The number of unemployed persons was 217 thousand and the unemployment rate was 4.4%.1

Employment, January–March 2024

In the period January–March 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15-74 was 4 million 725 thousand, 29 thousand more than a year earlier. For men, the number of employed persons was essentially unchanged at 2 million 480 thousand, while for women it rose by 41 thousand to 2 million 245 thousand.

The domestic primary labour market employed 4 million 553 thousand people, 27 thousand more than a year earlier. The number of people working abroad and public workers was essentially unchanged, the former at 109 thousand, the latter at 63 thousand persons.

The employment rate for 15-64 year olds was 74.7%, essentially the same as a year earlier. The rate remained virtually unchanged for men at 78.2%, while for women it increased by 1.1 percentage points to 71.1%.

Unemployment, January–March 2024

In the period January–March 2024, the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 increased year-on-year by 30 thousand to 229 thousand persons, while the unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to 4.6%.

For males, the number of unemployed was 126 thousand and their unemployment rate rose by 0.8 percentage points to 4.8%. For females, the number of unemployed was 103 thousand and their unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 4.4%.

The average time spent looking for a job was 8.9 months, 43% of all unemployed had been looking for a job for less than 3 months and 33% for at least a year.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service (https://nfsz.munka.hu/), the number of registered jobseekers at the end of March 2024 decreased by 3.2% to 236 thousand compared to a year earlier.