Published on: 2 January 2019

44 thousand more people in work than a year earlier

In the period of September–November 2018, the average number of employed people was 4,494 thousand, 44 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 69.7%. There was an improvement both among men and women, but men were characterized by a higher level of employment than women.

In September–November 2018, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 1.0% to 4,494 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 93 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 53 thousand, and that of those working at local units abroad changed within the limits of sampling error.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, September–November 2018

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 253.592.92.2
Consider themselves public worker130.7–52.6–28.7
Work at local units abroad110.23.93.7
Total4 494.544.31.0

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

4,430 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 0.9 percentage point to 69.7%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 0.5% to 2,425 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 0.7 percentage point to 76.8%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew by 0.8% to 2,005 thousand, and their employment rate by 1.0 percentage point to 62.7%.

Among young people aged 15–24 years, the employment essentially didn’t change, the number of the employed was 306 thousand and the employment rate was 29.9%. In the ‘best working age’, i.e. the age group 25–54 years, the number of employed people and the employment rate changed within the limits of sampling error, the former was 3,416 thousand and the latter 84.0%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the number of the employed increased by 21 thousand to 708 thousand, and their employment rate grew by 3.3 percentage points to 55.8%.

The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – grew by 0.9 percentage point to 74.8%. 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 82.6% for men and 67.2% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, September–November 2018

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24305.6–1.029.90.4
25–543 416.37.984.0–0.2
55–64707.920.655.83.3
Total4 429.727.569.70.9
Of which: 20–644 398.523.174.80.9

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