Domestic employment is at a level not seen in three decades

According to the indicators compiled by Eurostat, Hungary's employment level of 77.7 percent ranks the country sixth in the ranking of member states, almost six percentage points above the EU average.

In the first quarter of 2021, Hungary produced the best employment data since the system change, Sándor Bodó drew attention, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) told MTI on Friday.

According to the announcement, the state secretary responsible for employment policy of the ITM said that with the 77.7 percent employment level in Hungary according to the indicators compiled by Eurostat, the country occupies the sixth place in the ranking of the member states, almost six percentage points above the EU average.

The Hungarian indicator of almost 78 percent, which has not been experienced for a long time, essentially corresponds to a situation close to full employment. Based on international comparative data, only the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Germany have more people working in the workforce aged 20-64 than in Hungary. The domestic unemployment rate of 3.9 percent is also one of the lowest in Europe, the ministry announced.

In the announcement, Sándor Bodó added: the outstanding performance is not only due to the effective management of the virus crisis, but also to the successful economic protection measures. In order to build a work-based society, all their joint efforts in the last decade are spectacularly confirmed in the latest employment data.

"We started from a long way off, since in the first quarter of 2010, Hungary was the European Union's leader in employment of the 20-64 age group with a rate below 60 percent. Catching up to the top was made possible by the fact that, while the employment level increased by 4.3 percentage points on average in the EU over the past 11 years, together with the Hungarian people, we brought together an increase of 18.3 percentage points, which is more than four times faster, - reminded the state secretary in the ITM announcement.

MTI

Cover image: Illustration - Photo: MTI/Péter Komka