Published on: 27 March 2024

4 million 723 thousand people in employment, unemployment rate at 4.6%

In February 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 increased by 32 thousand from the same period of the previous year, to 4 million 723 thousand. The number of unemployed persons was 227 thousand and the unemployment rate was 4.6%.1

Employment, December 2023–February 2024

In the period December 2023–February 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15-74 was 4 million 721 thousand, 31 thousand more than a year earlier. For men, the number of employed persons was essentially unchanged at 2 million 490 thousand, while for women it rose by 27 thousand to 2 million 232 thousand.

The domestic primary labour market employed 4 million 550 thousand people, 30 thousand more than a year earlier. The number of people working abroad and public workers was essentially unchanged, the former at 106 thousand, the latter at 65 thousand persons.

The employment rate for 15-64 year olds was 74.6%, the same as a year earlier. The rate remained virtually unchanged for men at 78.5%, while for women it increased by 0.8 percentage points to 70.8%.

Unemployment, December 2023–February 2024

In the period December 2023–February 2024, the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 increased year-on-year by 33 thousand to 232 thousand persons, while the unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to 4.7%.

For males, the number of unemployed was 124 thousand and their unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to 4.7%. For females, the number of unemployed was 108 thousand and their unemployment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to 4.6%.

The average time spent looking for a job was 9.1 months, 43% of all unemployed had been looking for a job for less than 3 months and 33% for at least a year.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service (https://nfsz.munka.hu/), the number of registered jobseekers at the end of February 2024 decreased by 4.0% to 235 thousand compared to a year earlier.