Published on: 28 August 2019

34 thousand more people in work

In the period of May–July 2019, the average number of employed people was 4,518 thousand, 34 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 70.1%. The level of employment was higher among men than among women, and the rate of improvement was also higher for men.

In May–July 2019, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 0.8% to 4,518 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 73 thousand and that for those working at local units abroad was 10 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 49 thousand.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, May–July 2019

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 290.473.31.7
Consider themselves public worker109.7–49.4–31.0
Work at local units abroad117.810.49.7
Total4 517.934.30.8

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

4,440 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 0.7 percentage point to 70.1%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 19 thousand to 2,433 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 0.9 percentage point to 77.2%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew to 2,007 thousand, and their employment rate changed to 63.1%.

The number of employed among young people aged 15–24 years decreased by 9 thousand to 286 thousand, their employment rate was 28.3%. In the ‘best working age’, i.e. the age group 25–54 years, the number of employed people increased by 14 thousand to 3,454 thousand and the employment rate was 84.6%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the number of the employed was 700 thousand, their employment rate grew by 2.8 percentage points to 56.6%.

The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – grew by 0.7 percentage point to 75.3%. The European Union set a target of 75% by 2020; in Hungary, the employment rate of this age group is currently 82.9% for men and 67.8% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, May–July 2019

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24286.2–9.028.3–0.5
25–543 453.814.184.60.0
55–64700.19.156.62.8
Total4 440.114.270.10.7
Of which: 20–644 408.79.975.30.7

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