79 thousand fewer people in employment than a year before
Over the period of May–July 2020, the average number of employed people1 was 4,439 thousand; the employment rate of people aged 15–64 was 69.1%. Both sexes saw a decrease, however, employment rate for men was higher than for women. In July 2020, the average monthly number of employed people was 4 million 460 thousand, which is essentially the same as in the previous month.
In May–July 2020, compared to a year before2:
The number of employed people decreased by 1.7% to 4,439 thousand. Employment fell by 34 thousand in the primary labour market, by 25 thousand in public work programmes and by 20 thousand among employed persons working abroad and belonging to a household living in Hungary.
Number of employed people aged 15–74, May–July 2020
| Denomination | Number, thousand persons | Change in headcounta) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| thousand persons | % | ||
| Work in the domestic primary labour market | 4 256.6 | –33.8 | –0.8 |
| Public workersb) | 84.8 | –25.0 | –22.7 |
| Employed persons working abroad and belonging to a household living in Hungary | 97.5 | –20.2 | –17.2 |
| Total | 4 438.9 | –79.0 | –1.7 |
a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.
b) Based on the respondent's self-classification.
Of those aged 15-64, 4 million 344 thousand were classified as employed, with an overall employment rate of 69.1%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 declined by 36 thousand to 2,397 thousand, and their employment rate by 0.7 percentage points to 76.4%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed decreased by 60 thousand to 1,947 thousand, and their employment rate by 1.2 percentage points to 61.9%.
The number of employed people in the young age group (15–24 years) was 271 thousand, and the employment rate 27.2%. We saw the most significant change among the so-called best working age population (25–54 years): the number of employed decreased by 84 thousand to 3,370 thousand people, and the employment rate by 2.3 percentage points to 82.2%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the number of the employed was 703 thousand, but their employment rate grew by 2.5 percentage points to 59.2%, partly for demographical reasons.
The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – decreased by 0.9 percentage point to 74.4%. Hungary has already reached the EU target of 75% by 2020 before the coronavirus epidemic. In this age group, the epidemic reduced the employment rate to 82.5% for men and 66.5% for women.
Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age group, May–July 2020
| Age group, year-old | Number | Employment rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousand persons | change, thousand personsa) | % | change, percentage pointa) | |
| 15–24 | 270.8 | –15.4 | 27.2 | –1.1 |
| 25–54 | 3 369.4 | –84.4 | 82.2 | –2.3 |
| 55–64 | 703.3 | 3.2 | 59.2 | 2.5 |
| Total | 4 343.5 | –96.6 | 69.1 | –1.0 |
| Of which: 20–64 | 4 317.4 | –91.4 | 74.4 | –0.9 |
a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.
In July3 2020
The average monthly number of employed people increased by 3.2 thousand compared to the previous month, to 4 million 460 thousand, and decreased by 65 thousand compared to July last year.
The employment rate of 15-64 year olds was 69.6%, up 0.2 percentage point from June and down 0.8 percentage point from July of the previous year.