Hungary jobless rate falls to 4.4 pc – UPDATE

Hungary’s rolling average three-month jobless rate fell to 4.4 percent in March-May from 4.6 percent in the previous period, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Wednesday.

The rate which covers unemployment among 15-74 year-olds was lower than 5.5 percent in the same period a year earlier.

In absolute terms, there were 203,100 unemployed in Hungary in March-May, 5,900 less than in February-April and 47,600 less than in the same period a year earlier.

The unemployment rate among 15- 24 year-olds stood at 10.8 percent, down by 3.0 percentage points from a year earlier. Still, the age group accounted for about one-sixth of all unemployed, KSH noted. The unemployment rate for 25-54 year-olds dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 3.9 percent and the rate among 55-64 year-olds was basically unchanged at 4.2 percent.

Péter Cseresnyés, state secretary of the economy ministry in charge of employment, told public television that there were nearly 700,000 more people in jobs than in 2010. The government sees the youth employment rate as especially encouraging: the proportion of under-25s in employment hardly reached 20 percent in 2010, whereas it has risen to almost 30 percent. The jobless rate in the same age group is now 10.2 percent, he added.