The number of unemployed reached 200,000 in the last month of 2020, representing an increase of 10,000 persons compared to November. Compared to December 2019, the number of unemployed increased by 59 thousand, and the unemployment rate by 1.2 percentage points.

Unemployment rate increases in October-December

Compared to the last three months of 2019, in October-December 2020, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 grew by 41,000 to 197,000 and their unemployment rate increased by 0.9 percentage points to 4.2%. Among men, the number of unemployed increased by 21,000 to 103,000 and the unemployment rate grew by 0.8 percentage points to 4%. In the case of women, the number of unemployed rose by 20,000 to 94,000 and the unemployment rate increased by 1 percentage point to 4.5%.

Among people aged 15–24, the number of unemployed decreased to 34,000 and the unemployment rate by 0.7 percentage points to 11.5%. As a result, their proportion decreased among all the unemployed. Unemployment rates for people aged 25–54 grew by 0.9 percentage points to 3.8%, and for people aged 55–74 increased by 1.8 percentage points to 3.5%.

The average duration of unemployment was 11.1 months; 31.4% of unemployed people had been looking for a job for one year or more.

Unemployment increased in all regions except Southern Transdanubia: the fastest, by 1.7 percentage points, in the Northern Great Plain and Pest regions, resulting in the highest unemployment rate of 7.4% in Northern Great Plain. Unemployment in Northern Hungary also increased significantly, by 1.5 percentage points to 5.3%. Unemployment was lowest in Western and Central Transdanubia (1.9% and 2.3%, respectively), KSH notes.

Unemployment up in all age groups in 2020

Compared to 2019, unemployment increased in all age groups in Hungary in 2020 as a whole, by 1.4 percentage points to 12.8% among young people aged 15-24, by 0.9 percentage points to 3.8% in the 25-54 age group and by 0.7 percentage points to 2.9% in the 55-74 age group

For the year as a whole, the average duration of unemployment was 10 months, and the proportion of those looking for a job for at least a year was 28.1%.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service, the total number of registered jobseekers increased by 23.8%, reaching 291,000 at the end of December 2020.