The average time spent looking for work was 19.3 months. There were 2,979,000 economically inactive Hungarians - those neither employed nor seeking work -in the age group during the period, down from 3,088,500 a year earlier.

The data are calculated in line with International Labour Organisation standards and include people with all forms of employment contracts who have worked more than one hour a week during the period or are on sick leave or paid absence.

The data also include those employed in public work schemes and those working abroad for less than one year. Erste analyst Vivien Barczel attributed the lower than expected July-September jobless rate to the high number of fostered workers, which has reached 226,000, or 5.3%, of the total.

Takarékbank analyst Gergely Suppan also noted the lower than expected jobless rate noting that the number of inactive Hungarians has dropped below 3 million.

He expects the unemployment rate to be around 6% in the second half of 2015 because of seasonal effects and improving outlook on the job market.

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