Published on: 27 February 2017

161 thousand more people in work in November–2016-January 2017 than a year earlier

In November 2016–January 2017, the number of employed people was 4,401 thousand, 161 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 67.4%, the improvement in the employment indicators of women was stronger.

In November 2016–January 2017, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 3.8% to 4,401 thousand. The growth of 161 thousand occurred almost entirely in the domestic primary labour market, the number of people working in public employment decreased by 17 thousand, while the number of those working at local units abroad slightly increased within the limits of sampling error.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, November 2016–January 2017

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 075.7174.24.5
Consider themselves public worker208.0–17.3–7.7
Work at local units abroad116.94.23.7
Total4 400.6161.13.8

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

4,354 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and their employment rate grew by 2.9 percentage points to 67.4%. The number of 15–64 year-old employed men increased by 3.1% to 2,359 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 2.6 percentage points to 73.8%. The number of 15–64 year-old employed women increased by 4.3% to 1,995 thousand, and their employment rate grew by 3.1 percentage points to 61.2%.

The number of employed young people aged 15–24 years was 305 thousand, and their employment rate increased by 2.4 percentage points to 28.8%. The number of employed people in the ‘best working age’, i.e. the age group 25–54 years and in the older, 55–64 age group increased as well, and their employment rate grew by 2.2 percentage points to 83.0% in the former and by 4.1 percentage points to 50.8% 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 3.1 percentage points to 72.5%. 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 79.5% for men and 65.6% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, November 2016–January 2017

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24305.417.528.82.4
25–543 369.494.583.02.2
55–64679.141.750.84.1
Total4 353.9153.767.42.9
Of which: 20–644 330.2157.272.53.1

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