67 thousand more people in work than a year earlier
In the period of January–March 2018, the average number of employed people was 4,435 thousand, 67 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 68.7%. The level of employment was higher among men than among women, and the rate of improvement was also higher for them.
In January–March 2018, compared to a year before:
The number of employed people increased by 1.5% to 4,435 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 125 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 42 thousand and that of those working at local units abroad by 15 thousand.
Number of employed people aged 15–74, January–March 2018
| Denomination | Number, thousand persons | Change in headcounta) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| thousand persons | % | ||
| Work in the domestic primary labour market | 4 180.2 | 124.6 | 3.1 |
| Consider themselves public worker | 158.5 | –42.2 | –21.0 |
| Work at local units abroad | 96.5 | –15.2 | –13.6 |
| Total | 4 435.2 | 67.2 | 1.5 |
a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.
4,382 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 1.6 percentage points to 68.7%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 2.0% to 2,399 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 2.0 percentage points to 75.8%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew to 1,984 thousand (i.e. changed within the limits of the sampling error), and their employment rate increased by 1.1 percentage points to 61.6%.
Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of the employed decreased by 13 thousand to 286 thousand, and their employment rate fell to 27.7%. The number of employed people increased both in the ‘best working age’, i.e. the age group 25–54 years and in the older, 55–64 age group, their employment rates grew as well, by 1.1 percentage points to 83.9% in the former and by 3.6 percentage points to 53.6% in the latter age group.
The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – grew by 1.7 percentage points to 73.8%. The European Union targeted to raise the average employment rate to 75% by 2020; in Hungary, the employment rate of this age group is currently 81.7% for men and 66.1% for women.
The level of employment of the population aged 15–64 increased in almost all of the regions, the most significant growth of 3.7 percentage points occurred in Western Transdanubia. In Budapest, the decrease was within the limits of the sampling error, 0.5 percentage point. The employment rate was the highest in Western Transdanubia (73.5%) and the lowest in Southern Transdanubia (62.3%).
Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, January–March 2018
| Age group, year-old | Number | Employment rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousand persons | change, thousand personsa) | % | change, percentage pointa) | |
| 15–24 | 286.0 | –13.5 | 27.7 | –0.7 |
| 25–54 | 3 400.9 | 44.9 | 83.9 | 1.1 |
| 55–64 | 695.4 | 28.3 | 53.6 | 3.6 |
| Total | 4 382.3 | 59.7 | 68.7 | 1.6 |
| Of which: 20–64 | 4 358.2 | 59.5 | 73.8 | 1.7 |
a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.