Hungary's unemployment at 16-year high

The country measures the rate quarterly and the latest results cover December through February for workers age 15-74, the Budapest Business Journal reported.
Unemployment was up from the previous quarter's 10.8 percent and the latest figures came as a surprise to financial analysts, the agency said.

Accordingly, David Nemeth of ING Bank raised his unemployment forecast for the March-April period to increase to 12 percent, the report said. He forecast the rate would ease slightly to between 11 percent and 11.5 percent by the end of the year.

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