As in the past couple of years, the Ministry for National Economy will this year also publish tenders aimed at generating jobs. As a result of such support, the Ministry expects that 5200 new jobs will be created at micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, Ministry of State for Employment Policy Sándor Czomba said at a press conference in Budapest.

Sándor Czomba emphasized that the overall amount of 10bn HUF is estimated to generate 5200 new jobs at 700-800 enterprises and help preserve another 10 000 existing jobs in 2013. He added that the amount of subsidies has constantly increased over the past years: the tender was announced with a total allocation of 2bn HUF in 2010, 5bn HUF in 2011 and 10bn HUF this year and last.

Applications can be submitted between 14 February and 5 April, and a final decision will be made until 31 May, Sándor Czomba informed the audience.
The subsidy can be utilized for purchasing machinery, appliances and equipment, and in comparison to the tender requirements of past years certain – partly administrative – specifications have been simplified.
This year per capita subsidy increased from 1.4 million HUF to 1.5 million HUF. This base amount may increase by 0.5 million HUF in case the enterprise hires a registered jobseeker, by another 300 thousand in case this person is of Roma origin; and by 200 thousand and 300 thousand, in case the new job is in a disadvantaged or most disadvantaged region, respectively. In case the jobs are created in a free entrepreneurial zone the enterprise is entitled to further 400 thousand HUF, and thus the maximum amount of – non-refundable – subsidy may be as high as 3 million HUF for every employee, the Minister of State stressed.

It is a significant modification that enterprises operating for at least two years instead of the former three years also qualify for the application. Another requirement is, added Sándor Czomba, that enterprises wishing to apply shall have a positive balance sheet for last year. Furthermore, the job thus created shall be retained for at least two years and machinery and other equipment obtained from the subsidy shall be kept for at least three years.
In the past two years altogether 966 small- and medium-sized enterprises received non-refundable subsidies totalling 12.3bn HUF via the tender aimed for job creation, the Minister of State said. He added that the Ministry for National Economy has thus helped generate overall more than 7100 new jobs and helped preserve 21 000 existing ones. He also mentioned that according to experiences enterprises maintained the number of new jobs and machinery beyond the official deadlines.

(Ministry for National Economy)