KSH: Jobless rate drops to 6.2% in Oct-Dec

Experts say the actual unemployment rate is higher than the official figure, which counts Hungarians working abroad and people working for the stateʼs workfare program as being employed.

According to data by KSH, men were characterized by a lower level of unemployment, and the improvement was also higher in their case.

The annual average number of unemployed was 308,000 last year, down by 35,000 from the preceding year, KSH said. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.9 percentage points to 6.8% compared to the previous year, KSH said.

In the period of October-December, the number of 15–74 year-old unemployed men dropped by 25,000 to 146,000, and their unemployment rate by 1.2 percentage points to 5.9%, while the number of unemployed women was down by 13,000 to 135,000, and their unemployment rate by 0.7 percentage points to 6.5%.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service, at the end of December 2015, the total number of registered jobseekers was 337,000, which means a 13.7% decrease, KSH noted.

Takarékbank analyst Gergely Suppan told Hungarian new agency MTI that the number of new jobs added to the economy, excluding fostered workers and Hungarians working abroad, was up from the previous three-month period. He added that business confidence indicators augur further hiring. Erste Bank analysts Vivien Barczel and Gergely Ürmössy told MTI the unemployment rate could drop to 6.5% this year from 6.8% in 2015.