Unemployment rate was 3.7%
Economic developments resulting from the coronavirus epidemic have only partially affected the period under review, so their effects are less pronounced in the reported unemployment data.In the period of January–March 2020, the average number of unemployed people was 173 thousand, and the unemployment rate was 3.7%. Unemployment rate was lower for men than for women, with this indicator stagnating for men and slightly increasing for women.In March 2020, about 56 thousand people lost their jobs, of which 54 thousand became economically inactive and 2 thousand unemployed.
In January–March 2020, compared to a year before1:
Among men aged 15–74, the number of unemployed was 92 thousand, and the unemployment rate was 3.6%. In the case of women, the number of unemployed rose to 81 thousand and the unemployment rate to 3.9%
Among people aged 15–24, the number of the unemployed was 36 thousand and their unemployment rate 11.4%. More than a fifth of the unemployed belonged to this age group. Unemployment rates for people aged 25–54, being in the so-called best working age, and for people aged 55–74 remained virtually unchanged, with 3.4% for the former and 2.2% for the latter group.
The average duration of unemployment was 10.4 months; 29.8% of unemployed people had been searching for a job for one year or more, i.e. were long-term unemployed.
The unemployment rate of people aged 15–74 was lowest in Western and Central Transdanubia, with 1.5 and 2.3 %. Northern Great Plain was characterized by the highest unemployment at 7.1%. The unemployment stagnated or slightly increased in all of regions except Western Transdanubia and Northern Hungary, the most significant change was in Southern Transdanubia, where the rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 6.2%.
Unemployment among 15–74* year-olds by age group, January–March 2020
| Age group, year-old | Number | Unemployment rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| thousand persons | change, thousand personsa) | % | change, percentage pointa) | |
| 15–24 | 36.5 | 0.4 | 11.4 | 0.2 |
| 25–54 | 119.3 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 0.2 |
| 55–74 | 17.2 | –0.8 | 2.2 | –0.1 |
| Total | 173.0 | 7.3 | 3.7 | 0.2 |
* Data of the 15–64 age group are available (2.1.0.2 STADAT Table).
a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.
In March2 2020
The average number of unemployed people was 168 thousand, and the unemployment rate was 3.7%
Compared to the previous month and the data of March 2019, neither the number of unemployed nor the unemployment rate changed significantly.
However, the number of jobless people increased significantly compared to the previous month, by about 56 thousand. However, this survey, which is also suitable for international comparison (according to ILO definitions), did not primarily increase the number of the unemployed, but the number of inactive people (The former increased by 2 thousand and the latter by 54 thousand.) The vast majority of people who lost their jobs did not actively look for work and / or could not get a job within 2 weeks, mainly due to restrictions on personal relationships.
At the end of March 2020, compared to a year earlier:
According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service (https://nfsz.munka.hu/), the total number of registered jobseekers decreased by 0.9% to 281 thousand.