Márton Nagy: the rise in unemployment is temporary
More and more people want to work in Hungary, Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy said on Saturday at Tranzit's spring conference entitled Year of Elections - Year of Change, in which he analysed the trends on the Hungarian labour market. According to a press release from the Ministry of National Economy, the minister stressed that in order to restart and further increase economic growth, it is necessary to further expand labour market activity.
The government's goal is to raise the employment rate for 20-64 year-olds to 85 percent, to reach 90 percent of the EU's development rate, Márton Nagy said.
The latest labour market data show a slight increase in the unemployment rate in Hungary, while 4.7 million people remain in work and the number of registered jobseekers is at a historic low.
Márton Nagy pointed out that the rise in unemployment is both temporary and a sign that more and more previously inactive people are entering the labour market.This is a clear benefit for the economy, as the government's targets mobilise the domestic labour market reserve, opening up space for further employment growth.
He said that the inactive population has declined in almost all age groups, but the entry from inactive status to the labour market is most marked among young people aged 15-34, mainly with lower education, and skilled people aged 55-64 who are close to retirement.
Among the inactive, most people from Budapest and its surroundings and from Eastern Hungary want to enter the labour market and typically find work in the areas around large industrial parks, as these are the areas where employment is rising the most.
Márton Nagy also pointed out that the Hungarian labour market is undergoing an internal, sectoral reorganisation: since the beginning of 2023, the number of employees has decreased by 49,000 in the public administration sector, while the most significant increase has been in the manufacturing sector.
A further positive trend, he said, was the trend decline in the number of public sector workers, who are also able to find employment in the primary labour market.
Márton Nagy stressed that Hungary is a work-based and not an aid-based country, with one of the lowest unemployment rates and highest employment rates, so the pillars of the work-based society are consolidated and will be further strengthened.
Under the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme Plus, the government will help to further increase employment and activity, mobilise labour reserves, train people in work and improve working conditions by mobilising more than 460 billion forints of EU funding until 2030, the statement said.
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