Hungary jobless rate little changed at 10.7% in Oct-Dec

The average unemployment rate for the full year came to 10.9%, level with the rate in 2011, KSH said. The average number of unemployed in 2012 was 476,000. There were 468,300 unemployed, on average, in October-December, including 87,200 in the 15-24 age group. The overall number was up from 459,000 in the same three-month period a year earlier.
The rate of employment averaged 51.1% in the 15-74 age group in October-December, up from 50.2% in the same three months a year earlier. The number of employed in the age group came to 3,908,500 during the period. The employment rate was 57.8% for the 15-64 age group in October-December, climbing from 56.5% in the same period a year earlier. In absolute terms, there were 3,873,900 people between the ages of 15 and 64 employed in Hungary during the last three months of 2012. The rate of "economically active" people - those looking for work as well as those employed  - was 57.2% in the 15-74 age group and 64.8% in the 15-64 age group in October-December.
TakarékBank analyst Gergely Suppan said the unemployment rate could rise in the coming months because of seasonal effects. He put the full-year rate for 2013 at 10.8%. Erste Bank's Orsolya Nyeste said seasonsal effects could cause the unemployment rate to climb over 11% in the coming months, but added that the full-year rate would probably remain level with that in 2012.