Minister of State for Employment Sándor Czomba stated at a press conference in Bácsalmás, Békés County, he considers it a crucial objective that people who cannot find work on the labour market will earn a net monthly income of some HUF 50 thousand instead of a welfare benefit of HUF 22 800 during the winter, because as of 1 January 2014 the net wage of a public work employee will increase by 2.4 percent to HUF 50 600.

As the Minister of State emphasised, thanks to the new tax allowance effective as of January public work employees with one, two and three or more children will earn a net monthly income of HUF 60 600, HUF 70 600 and more than 76 000, respectively. Sándor Czomba called it a great achievement that even people who had not had any skills or had not formerly participated in the public work scheme could also be engaged for the winter phase of the programme. The Minister of State stressed that out of the 200 thousand people anticipated to take part in the winter phase of the programme, 100 thousand will attend learning courses and it is also in line with EU recommendations.

As he informed journalists, 90 thousand people are embarking on some learning courses this week and adding to them the number of participants from agricultural courses which have been ongoing since spring, the total number of participants is 108 thousand. He said that in Hungary there are 500 thousand jobseekers, of which 200 thousand people only have primary school attainment, while 26 thousand have not even completed all the compulsory eight grades of primary school.

The Minister of State pointed out how important the teaching of basic competences is. In light of a study conducted in Békés County, 20 percent of the study’s 400 respondents could not score even 30 points. This does not mean, as the Minister of State put it, that they were unable to carry out a task, but rather that they could not comprehend the written description of the task. “We shall face up to Hungarian reality,” he added.

Fidesz MP Gábor Bányai, the representative of the constituency, pointed out that in the region 2200 people participate in the public work scheme and their work is already visible on the roadsides of the region’s villages. The MP added that for those who have been unable to find a job for years the income they earn as public work employees is a sizable amount.

Mayor of Bácsalmás Balázs Németh called the public work scheme an important and successful programme, as in the village it reduced unemployment from 25 percent to 10.8 percent over the course of one year.

(Ministry for National Economy)