Austrian and Hungarian professionals held a three-day conference on the labour market status of young people in Szalónak (Stadtschlaining) in the Austrian province of Burgenland, bordering Hungary.

One of the most pressing issues in Europe is youth unemployment. The respective indicator is above 30 percent for eight EU member states. Youth unemployment in Hungary is also very high at 28 percent, Minister of State for Employment Policy Sándor Czomba told participants of the EXPAK Austrian-Hungarian Expert Academy.

However, he emphasized that despite the crisis there is still room to manoeuvre with regard to improving employment. This was the rationale for the reorganization of the secondary and tertiary education systems, within which steps have been taken to establish a dual training scheme that actively engages enterprises. He also mentioned the First Job Guarantee Scheme, aimed at improving youth employment, which helped 7300 young people find a job within four months in 2012, and some 50 percent of them were still employed after the four-month period was over.

The employment scheme announced in February 2013 also includes guarantees for follow-up employment, and this measure has already helped 2000 young people find a job. The Minister of State also informed the audience that about half of employment-related housing subsidies, aimed at boosting labour mobility, had been applied for by young people below the age of 25.

(Ministry for National Economy)