The unemployment rate among 15- 24 year-olds stood at 10.8 percent, down by 3.0 percentage points from a year earlier.

Still, the age group accounted for about one-sixth of all unemployed, KSH noted. The unemployment rate for 25-54 year-olds dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 3.9 percent and the rate among 55-64 year-olds was basically unchanged at 4.2 percent.

Péter Cseresnyés, state secretary of the economy ministry in charge of employment, told public television that there were nearly 700,000 more people in jobs than in 2010.

The government sees the youth employment rate as especially encouraging: the proportion of under-25s in employment hardly reached 20 percent in 2010, whereas it has risen to almost 30 percent.

The jobless rate in the same age group is now 10.2 percent, he added. The economy ministry said in a statement that 500,000 jobs had been added to the private sector since 2010. The jobless rate among 15-24 year-old has dropped by an annual 3 percentage points, to 10.8 percent, which is a favourable rate in a European comparison, it added.

Takarékbank analyst András Horváth said the Hungarian labour market has a 800,000 person reserve in the form of inactive people looking for jobs, fostered workers, people working abroad and unemployed, but getting these groups onto the labour market would require active measures.

Péter Virovácz of ING Bank also noted that remaining unemployment in the current circumstances was mostly structural and the jobless could only be employed with serious efforts made.

K and H Bank senior analyst Dávid Németh said the unemployment rate for the rest of the year may average 4 percent, or virtual full-employment.

Labour market conditions could mostly be improved by “guiding” workers from the government sector and the fostered work programmes towards the primary labour market, he added.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.