In the 2014-2020 EU fiscal period, Hungary intends to spend one-third of the HUF 600bn made avaialable for stimulating employment on improving the labour market prospects of young people aged 15-24 years and thus assist 150 thousand people in starting their careers, Minister of State for Employment Sándor Czomba said in Budapest, following a conference on youth employment held within the framework of the Szabad Európa Vitanapok (Free Europe Debates).
At the event, the Minister of State stressed that the 2014-2020 Youth Guarantee scheme launched by the European Union primarily helps young people living in underprivileged areas to get a job. For Hungary, an amount of HUF 15bn will be made available for this 7-year period, to which the Government will add extra resources.
European Parliament MP Csaba Őry said that the Youth Guarantee scheme provides EUR 6bn for the 28 member states which amount is to be utilized in the first half of the seven-year period as youth employment needs a “push” to rebound. He emphasised that Hungarian achievements of the past few years in the field of employment serve as models for other EU countries.
The MP stated that youth unemployment has been a priority in the EU, and the Union has been focusing on exchanging best practices.
Sándor Czomba pointed out that Hungary has been utilizing policy instruments proposed by the EU (e.g.: wage supplement, education, labour market services) for quite a long time. He stressed that over the past 3-4 years the Government has implemented several measures which successfully boosted employment. According to the latest data by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the number of those in employment continued to be above the 4 million mark, a phenomenon unprecedented since 1992, and the unemployment rate has been staying below 10 percent. Hungary’s employment rate, from a European perspective, is still low, but labour market trends are favourable and Hungary has been among those 8-10 member states which have been capable of simultaneously increasing employment and reducing unemployment, Sándor Czomba said.
He added that over the past three-and-a-half years some 250 thousand new jobs have been created in Hungary, of which 100 thousand were in the private sector. The number of those in employment aged 15-24 years is 263 thousand and that of unemployed people is 75 thousand. The 24 percent youth unemployment rate, about two-and-a-half times the average unemployment rate, places Hungary in the middle of the EU’s ranking.
Sándor Czomba also mentioned that although the employment rate regarding the entire population has been continuously improving since August 2010, the indicator for young people had declined or stagnated until the summer of 2012. This was the time when the Government decided to initiate the First Job Guarantee Programme, under which more than 16 thousand career-starters have managed over the past two years to get a job mainly in the private sector. In addition, incentives provided by the Programme also underpinned the career-start of young people.
(Ministry for National Economy)
