Published on: 29 May 2018

67 thousand more people in work than a year earlier

In the period of February–April 2018, the average number of employed people was 4,445 thousand, 67 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 68.8%. The level of employment was higher among men than among women, and the rate of improvement was also higher for them.

In February–April 2018, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 1.5% to 4,445 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 128 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 46 thousand and that of those working at local units abroad by 15 thousand.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, February–April 2018

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 190.1127.83.1
Consider themselves public worker157.7–46.1–22.6
Work at local units abroad97.2–14.8–13.2
Total4 445.066.91.5

a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.

4,393 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 1.5 percentage points to 68.8%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 2.1% to 2,406 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 2.0 percentage points to 76.0%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew to 1,987 thousand (i.e. changed within the limits of the sampling error), and their employment rate increased by 1.0 percentage point to 61.8%.

Employment among young people aged 15–24 years changed within the limits of the sampling error, the number of the employed was 291 thousand, and the employment rate was 28.2%. 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 84.1% in the former and by 3.0 percentage points to 53.3% 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 1.6 percentage points to 74.0%. 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 81.9% for men and 66.3% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, February–April 2018

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24291.0–7.628.2–0.1
25–543 413.248.484.11.1
55–64688.920.353.33.0
Total4 393.161.168.81.5
Of which: 20–644 367.560.874.01.6

a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.