BUDAPEST, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's rolling average jobless rate for the three months from August to October stood at 3.5 percent, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) informed here on Wednesday.
"The rate stood at 3.5 percent in the period of August to October, just as in the previous three-month period (July-September), but was down from 3.7 percent compared to the same period of 2018," KSH said in a statement.
The rate covers unemployment among people aged from 15 to 74, KSH added.
In absolute terms, there were 163,600 unemployed, 1,100 more than in the previous month, but 9,300 fewer than 12 months earlier, according to KSH.
Out-of-work Hungarians spent about 11.2 months on average looking for employment, KSH added.
Jobless rate in Hungary gradually fell from 11.9 percent in January-March 2012 to a record-low of 3.3 percent in April-June 2019.
"The Hungarian labor market is becoming more tight. While large companies lay off people following efficiency improvements, less efficient firms are hiring the laid off employees, keeping unemployment rate steady," ING Bank chief analyst Peter Virovacz said after the publication of the figures.
"Some jobseekers struggle to find jobs probably because of a lack of skills. The number of employed could be higher but this would require net wages to be competitive with wages abroad, to attract some people working abroad to return home," said Takarekbank lead analyst Andras Horvath, with reference to the more than half-million Hungarians working in Western Europe for higher wages.
