The unemployment rate dropped to 4.3%, reflecting steady improvements compared to a year earlier.
In the January–March 2025 period, the average number of employed persons aged 15 to 74 was 4.692 million. Among them, 2.493 million were men and 2.198 million were women. The vast majority — 4.525 million — worked in the domestic primary labor market. An additional 65,000 individuals were employed in public work programs, and 102,000 Hungarians were working abroad.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 rose by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year to 75.2%. Employment among men increased to 79.0%, a 0.7 percentage point gain from a year earlier, while the rate for women remained essentially unchanged at 71.3%.
Meanwhile, unemployment figures also improved. In the January–March period, the number of unemployed people aged 15 to 74 was 213,000, down by 14,000 compared to the same period in 2024. The unemployment rate edged down by 0.3 percentage points to 4.3%.
The number of unemployed men stood at 116,000, with a jobless rate of 4.5%, 0.4 percentage points lower than a year earlier. For women, the number of unemployed was 97,000, and the unemployment rate was 4.2%, broadly unchanged.
The average duration of job search was 13.1 months. Short-term unemployment accounted for 41.8% of the unemployed population, with job seekers searching for less than three months. However, long-term unemployment remained a challenge, with 37% of unemployed individuals having been out of work for at least a year.
According to the National Employment Service, the number of registered job seekers stood at 233,000 at the end of March, a decline of 1.5% compared to the same period last year.
