Hungary’s three-month rolling average jobless rate stood at 3.5 percent in September, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.
The rate edged up from 3.4 percent in the previous month, but was down from 3.8 percent twelve months earlier.
The rate covers unemployment among those between the ages of 15 and 74.
In absolute terms, there were 162,500 unemployed, 5,600 more than in the previous month, but 15,700 fewer than twelve months earlier.
KSH noted that the unemployment rate in the 15-24 age group stood at 11.4 percent and that these jobless account for almost one-fourth of the total.
The unemployment rate in the 25-54 age group was 3.0 percent and the rate for the 55-74 age group was 2.2 percent.
Out-of-work Hungarians spent about 12.4 months on average looking for employment during the period, and 34.1 percent of the unemployed had been seeking work for one year or longer.
The number of employed stood at 4,521,000 among 15- to 74-year-olds, 34,200 more than in the same period a year earlier. The employment rate rose 0.5 percentage point to 60.9pc during the period.
KSH defines “employed” in line with International Labour Organisation standards as anybody who worked one or more hour a week or was temporarily absent from their job during the survey week. The data also include those employed in public work schemes and those working abroad for less than one year.