The number of people in work during the period was around 3.88 million, which corresponds to an employment rate in Hungary of 54.5%. The relatively-small 15-24 age group accounted for 19.9% of total unemployed with unemployment in the age group exceptionally high and increasing at 19.3%.
The KSH noted that almost half of those redundant have been seeking a job for more than a year.
"During the period 45.1% of unemployed had been out of work for a year or longer, 1.1% more than last year. The average period of unemployment was 16.1 months."
Figures released by the EU's statistical office Eurostat for January 2006 show that unemployment in the EU 15 in January was also high at 7.8%, but below the 8.7% in the EU 25, including the most-recent member states. For Hungary the figure stood at 7.5%.
