Hungary jobless rate unchanged 10.8% yr/yr in May-July

In the 15-64 age group the jobless rate was also unchanged at 10.9% from April-June and dropped from 11.1% one year earlier.

The jobless rate fell and the number and share of employed rose in both the 15-74 and the 15-64 age groups in the previous three consecutive three-month periods.

 After months of decline, the activity rate in both age groups rose now for the fourth three-month period in a row, to 56.0% and 62.9%, respectively.

The number of unemployed in the 15-64 age group averaged 463,100 in May-July 2011, rising 2,500 from the previous three-month period, but down 3,900 in one year.

The number of employed within the 15-64 age group rose 23,400 from April-June to 3,800,200, and was up 42,900 from a year earlier, KSH said.

The changes in jobless numbers and the rise in employment numbers were similar in the 15-74 age group where the number of unemployed rose 2,500 from April June to 463,200 and the number of those employed rose 23,300 to 3,832,100 in May-July.

The employment rate in the 15-64 age group was up 0.3 percentage points after rising 0.4 percentage points in the previous three-month period, and at 56.1% in May-July, and was up 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier. The rate bottomed out at 54.6% in Q1 2011.

The activity rate of the 15-64 age group, at 62.9% in May-July, rose 0.3 percentage points from April-June, just as it did in the previous three-month period, and was up 0.5 percentage points in one year. The activity rate reached a more than three-year peak at 62.9% last summer before starting to slip in the autumn and bottoming out at 61.9% in Q1 this year. The annual average activity rate, at 62.4% last year, was the highest since 1998.

 16.0% of those unemployed in May-July were between 15-24 years old, who are only present on the labor market to a limited extent. The unemployment rate in this age group was 25.0%, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

The jobless rate for the most active, 25-54 age group was 10.0%, dropping 0.3 percentage points in one year.

Of all unemployed, 50.7% have been chasing jobs for one year or longer, less than the 51.4% measured in the preceding three months. The average period of unemployment was 18.2 months, 0.5 months less than in the previous three-month period and 0.2 months less than a year earlier, comparison with earlier reports shows.

Average unemployment in 2010 was 11.2%, up 1.2 percentage points from 2009. The unemployment rate rose from a low of 7.5% in the summer of 2008 to peak at 11.8% in the first months of 2010. The drop which followed slowed since May-July last year, and the rate rose again in the autumn and early this year before a renewed decline started.