The number of unemployed people averaged 318,500 in October-December, down by 2,200 from the previous three-month period and down by 80,000 from the same period a year earlier. 

The number of employed individuals in the 15-74 age group averaged 4,141,700 in October-December 2014, down by 13,400 from September-December but up by 172,200 from the same period a year earlier. 

The data also included those employed in public work schemes and those working abroad for less than one year.

Analysts polled by Hungarian news agency MTI expect employment growth to slow and added that public work schemes continue to considerably affect the data.

Erste Bank chief analyst Gergely Ürmössy said the pace of employment growth is weak if the data of those employed in public work schemes are excluded. ING Bank senior analyst András Balatoni noted that employment growth has come to a halt on the primary labor market.