4 million 699 thousand people in employment, unemployment rate at 4.5%
In October 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 decreased by 27 thousand to 4 million 699 thousand compared to the same period of the previous year. The outstanding level of employment in autumn last year played a role in the change. In October 2024, the number of unemployed persons was 219 thousand and the unemployment rate 4.5%.1
Employment, August–October 2024
In the August–October period 2024, the average number of employed persons aged 15–74 decreased to 4 million 703 thousand.2 While the number of employed males declined by 23 thousand to 2 million 491 thousand, that of females increased slightly2 to 2 million 212 thousand compared to a year earlier.
The number of workers in the domestic primary labour market and that of public workers decreased to 4 million 537 thousand and 58 thousand2 respectively, while the number of people working abroad remained stable2 at 107 thousand.
The employment rate for people aged 15-64 was 75.3%. The rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points for males to 78.8% and rose by 0.6 percentage points for females to 71.6% compared to the same period last year.
Unemployment, August–October 2024
In the August–October 2024 period, with the number of inactive persons decreasing, the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 increased year-on-year by 16 thousand to 226 thousand, while the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 4.6%.
The number of unemployed males was 119 thousand, and their unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 4.6%. For females, the number of unemployed was 106 thousand, with a rate (also 4.6%) slightly higher2 than in the same period of the previous year.
The average duration of job search was 12.1 months. 48% of all unemployed had been looking for a job for less than 3 months, up 4.0 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 October 2024 was the same as a year earlier, at 226 thousand people.