Published on: 30 August 2017

62 thousand more people in work than a year earlier

In the period of May–July 2017, the average number of employed people was 4,434 thousand, 62 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 68.3%. The employment indicator of men improved to a greater extent than that of women.

In May–July 2017, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 1.4% to 4,434 thousand. The increment in the domestic primary labour market was 107 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 40 thousand and the number of those working at local units abroad by 5 thousand.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, May–July 2017

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4 124.9106.72.7
Consider themselves public worker195.8–39.7–16.9
Work at local units abroad112.9–5.2–4.4
Total4 433.661.81.4

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

4,385 thousand of employed people were aged 15–64, and their employment rate grew by 1.5 percentage points to 68.3%. The number of 15–64 year-old employed men increased by 2.4% to 2,402 thousand, and their employment rate rose by 2.4 percentage points to 75.6%. The number of 15–64 year-old employed women decreased by 0.2% to 1,983 thousand, but their employment rate – due to demographic trends – grew by 0.6 percentage point to 61.2%.

The number of employed young people aged 15–24 years was 306 thousand, and their employment rate increased by 0.8 percentage point to 29.3%. The number of employed people increased in both the ‘best working age’, i.e. the 25–54 age group and in the older, 55–64 age group, and the employment rate grew by 1.3 percentage points to 83.9% in the former and by 1.6 percentage points to 51.7% 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 1.6 percentage points to 73.5%. 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 81.5% for men and 65.7% for women.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age groups, May–July 2017

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24305.90.829.30.8
25–543 396.546.983.91.3
55–64682.54.951.71.6
Total4 385.052.768.31.5
Of which: 20–644 361.256.073.51.6

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