By the end of August, there were 355,000 Hungarians whose standard of living had been negatively impacted by the coronavirus crisis, states a new analysis by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office.
This metric was considerably higher in June at 450,000. The number of Hungarians with suspended social security, typically a consequence of having been sent on unpaid leave, has dropped since May. There are also fewer people working reduced shifts. In the past couple of months, an increasing number of Hungarians started looking for employment. The number of newly registered jobseekers has also started growing rapidly.
Since April, the number of people in employment has been increasing. In August, for the first time this year, more than 4.5 million Hungarians were employed. This is barely less than at the same time last year. Moreover, among Hungarians aged 15-64, the employment rate was slightly higher than last August.
Overall unemployment for those aged 15-74 was 3.9% in August. The number of unemployed Hungarians grew rapidly from March to June, and has been in decline since July. By the end of summer, 132,000 unemployed professed to have lost their jobs between March and August. Almost a quarter of them had worked in the manufacturing industry. In August 2020 there were 185,400 jobseekers altogether, 28,000 more than in August 2019.
Featured Photo Illustration by Márton Mónus/MTI
