Published on: 28 March 2019

56 thousand more people in work

In the period of December 2018–February 2019, the average number of employed people was 4,497 thousand, 56 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 69.8%. There was an improvement both among men and women, but men were characterized by a higher level of employment than women.

In December 2018–February 2019, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 1.3% to 4,497 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 80 thousand and that for those working at local units abroad was 16 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 39 thousand.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, December 2018– February 2019

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 261.679.61.9
Consider themselves public worker125.5–39.5–23.9
Work at local units abroad110.316.217.2
Total4 497.456.31.3

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

4,428 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 1.1 percentage points to 69.8%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 29 thousand (1.2%) to 2,430 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 1.2 percentage points to 77.1%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew by 12 thousand to 1,998 thousand, and their employment rate by 0.9 percentage point to 62.6%.

Among young people aged 15–24 years, the employment changed within the limits of sampling error, the number of the employed was 293 thousand and the employment rate was 28.9%. In the ‘best working age’, i.e. the age group 25–54 years, the number of employed people increased by 36 thousand to 3,434 and the employment rate rose by 0.5 percentage point to 84.3%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the number of the employed was 701 thousand, their employment rate grew 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 1.1 percentage points to 75.0%, which is the average employment rate targeted by the European Union by 2020. In Hungary, the employment rate of this age group is currently 82.9% for men and 67.2% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, December 2018–February 2019

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24293.22.328.90.7
25–543 434.235.984.30.5
55–64701.22.155.82.0
Total4 428.540.469.81.1
Of which: 20–644 399.235.375.01.1

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