Hungary stats office publishes details of massive layoff spree

4.537 million people were employed in Hungary in January 2021, down 97,000 month on month and down 55,000 year on year, due to the coronavirus pandemic and seasonal effects. (The yr/yr decline matches the number Prime Minister Viktor Orbán mentioned in his radio interview this morning, and the difference stems from methodological changes.)

There were 238,000 unemployed people in Hungary in January, up 54,000 yr/yr. The jobless rate edged up 0.8 percentage points to 5.0%.

In the period from November 2020 to January 2021, 4.601 million people were employed, down 0.6% or 26,000 yr/yr. Employment increased by 21,000 in the primary labour market, decreased by 10,000 in the group of public workers and by 36,000 among members of Hungarian households working abroad.

The average number of unemployed people was 209,000 in the same period, which marks an increase of 49,000 over the base period. The U-rate was 4.3%, up by a full percentage points in annual terms.

According to the National Employment Service's administrative data, the number of registered job seekers jumped by 19.6% to 299,000.

Methodological change

Since January 1, 2021, additionally to persons working while receiving child care benefit, persons that have worked before requisitioning child care benefit, who are recipients of benefits during their absence and at the end of the receiving period will go back to their previous places of work (and thus were previously considered inactive or unemployed) are also considered employed. In other words, persons permanently absent from work due to receiving child care benefit are considered employed. Due to this change in the methodology, the employment rates of women have significantly changed.

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