4 million 699 thousand people in employment, unemployment rate at 4.5%
In September 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 decreased by 32 thousand to 4 million 699 thousand compared to the same period of the previous year. The historically high level of employment in September last year played a significant role in the change. In September 2024, the number of unemployed persons was 220 thousand and the unemployment rate 4.5%.1
Employment, July–September 2024
In the July–September period 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 was essentially unchanged at 4 million 709 thousand. While the number of employed males decreased by 32 thousand to 2 million 491 thousand, that of females increased by 31 thousand to 2 million 217 thousand.
The number of workers in the domestic primary labour market increased slightly2 to 4 million 545 thousand. While the number of people working abroad remained stable2 at 108 thousand, that of public workers fell by 10 thousand to 56 thousand.
The employment rate for 15-64 year olds grew by 0.2 percentage points2 to 75.3%. The rate decreased by 0.9 percentage points for males to 78.8% and rose by 1.2 percentage points for females to 71.8%.
Unemployment, July–September 2024
In the July–September 2024 period, with the number of inactive persons decreasing, the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 increased year-on-year by 26 thousand to 225 thousand, while the unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 4.6%.
The number of unemployed males was 121 thousand, and their unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 4.6%. For females, the number of unemployed was 103 thousand and their rate increased slightly2 to 4.5%.
The average duration of job search was 11.9 months. 45% of all unemployed had been looking for a job for less than 3 months, up 3.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year, while those looking for work at least a year accounted for 34% of the unemployed.
According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service (https://nfsz.munka.hu/), the number of registered job seekers at the end of September 2024 increased by 0.2% to 228 thousand compared to a year earlier.