On Thursday Minister of State for Employment Sándor Czomba paid a visit to three small villages in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County with successful public work schemes and spoke about the importance of productive public work, an assertion which has been proven right by several settlements all over the country, in typical disadvantaged regions.

As he said, these villages and others at various parts of the country have switched to a public work system which has been meaningful and productive, and this benefits everybody: the village at issue and those participating in the programme.

Speaking about one of the municipalities, Komlóska, the Minister of State said that unemployment has been eliminated in this dead-end village, the local government is in the position of giving work to everybody within the public work system, the settlement has been turned into a self-sustaining eco-village which has a forestry cooperative operated as an agricultural pilot project.

Other municipalities with similar programs can be found all around the country, for example in Cece, Fejér County, in Tiszaigar, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County or in Rozsály, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County.

The new public employment scheme was introduced by the Government in order to offer work to the long-term unemployed in exchange for social benefits. The Government is firmly committed to setting up a workfare system in which, in contrast to earlier social benefits schemes, work has a significant value.

(Ministry for National Economy)