A medium-sized city worker has disappeared in a year - here are the latest figures

In May 2025, there will be 80,000 fewer people in work than a year earlier. The number of people aged 15-74 in employment fell to 4 million 669 thousand, while the number of unemployed was 210 thousand. The unemployment rate remained at 4.3 percent and the employment rate remained at 75.1 percent. Employment among both men and women has fallen, and nearly a third of jobseekers have been out of work for at least a year, according to the latest figures from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. What could be behind it?

Egy év alatt eltűnt egy közepes városnyi dolgozó - íme a friss adatok-

In May 2015, the average number of employed persons aged 15-74 was 4 million 669 thousand. The number of unemployed was 210,000, and the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported on Friday.

In May 2024, the average number of employed people aged 15-74 was 4,749,000, an increase of 36,000 compared to the same period of the previous year (2023). .

In the three-month period March-May 2025, the average number of employed persons aged 15-74 was 4 million 673 thousand, 38 thousand fewer than a year earlier. The number of employed men fell by 18,000 to 2 million 478,000 and the number of employed women by 20,000 to 2 million 195,000.

The number of people working in the domestic primary labour market in March-May was 4 million 501 thousand, down 44 thousand from the same period last year, while the number of public and foreign workers remained stable at 66 thousand and 106 thousand respectively.

With a simultaneous decline in the population and the number of employed persons, the employment rate for the 15-64 age group was virtually unchanged from the same period last year at 75.1 percent. The rate was 78.9 percent for men and 71.2 percent for women.

In the March-May 2025 period, the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 was 212,000 and the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent.

The number of unemployed males was 117,000 and the number of unemployed females was 95,000. The rate was virtually the same for both sexes as between March and May last year, with 4.5 percent for men and 4.1 percent for women.

The average length of time looking for a job was 12.8 months, with 42.1 percent of the unemployed having been looking for work for less than 3 months, while 33.2 percent had not found a job for at least a year.

According to the administrative data of the National Employment Service, the number of registered jobseekers at the end of May 2025 decreased by 1.4 percent to 223,000 compared to a year earlier.

Sándor Czomba: the aim is to get more people into work

Hungarian employment is among the best in Europe, and the aim of the new measures is to maintain it and get more people into work, Sándor Czomba, Minister of State for Employment Policy at the Ministry of National Economy (Nationalegazdasági Minisztérium, NGM), said in a commentary on the latest labour market data.

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Data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) shows that nearly 4.7 million people were still working in Hungary in May 2025, while the number of registered jobseekers remained at an extremely low level.

The decline in the number of employed people is mainly due to a decrease in the number of people of working age in the total population, the State Secretary said.

What else, apart from demographic trends, could be behind the falling numbers? The fact is that the working age population (15-64 years) has been declining for years, in particular due to emigration of younger age groups and low birth rates. However, if demographics alone were the cause, the employment rate would also be falling. (The employment rate was virtually unchanged at 75.1%.) The domestic primary labour market was down by 44,000, suggesting that the economic slowdown and uncertain outlook have also reduced the number of jobs. The number of people in public employment and working abroad did not change significantly, so these did not mitigate the decline either. A third of the unemployed have been without a job for at least a year, and many may have given up looking for work and thus dropped out of the statistics - this hidden inactivity further clouds the picture. The data therefore suggests that not only depopulation, but also economic and labour market structural factors are contributing to the decline in the number of people in employment - a serious warning sign for the period ahead.

According to Sándor Czomba, wages are also getting better: real wages have been rising steadily for more than 1.5 years, while families are able to save more and more money thanks to the government's tax-cutting policies.

The personal income tax exemption for mothers of two and three children and the doubling of the family tax allowance will further strengthen families' financial security.

He recalled that in March, the government relaunched the "From Public Employment to Competitiveness 2025"programme, which aims to ensure that public employees with the right motivation and skills can find sustainable employment in the competitive sector. More than 20,000 people have so far entered the primary labour market through the programme's job placement allowance.

The government is also supporting the early reintegration of redundant workers through the 1.5 billion HUF "From Work to Employment programme. In addition, the \"SME Capacity Building Support 2.0\" scheme can help employ nearly 1,700 people, further strengthening the maintenance of high employment levels," said Sándor Czomba.

He added:

The Youth Guarantee Plus programme for young people under 30 and inactive people, as well as the similarly EU-funded programme for people over 30, will help to achieve full employment.

The initiatives provide jobseekers with wage support, housing and travel allowances. So far, more than 42 000 registered jobseekers have found work through the programmes, demonstrating their usefulness and effectiveness.

Is this a "warning sign" - is the Hungarian labour market cracking?

- read our previous article!

image: freepik