According to Ministerial Commissioner Piroska Szalai, who is responsible for improving the employment prospects of women, the number of women in employment will increase this year.
At a press conference in Budapest, the Commissioner said that while the number of women aged 15-64 years in employment was 1 million 725 thousand in 1988, the year before the regime change, which corresponds to an employment rate of 49.9 percent, in 2012 this figure was 1 million 782 thousand or 52.1 percent, a twenty-year record.
The Government has facilitated this process through modern and flexible labour regulation, the enactment of the new Labour Code, an up-to-date childcare service system, the introduction of flexible parental benefits as well as the introduction of an efficient tax regime, Piroska Szalai said.
The Commissioner stressed that as of January 1st, 2014 mothers with small children will have the opportunity to have a job while also remaining eligible for parental benefits. Previously mothers had to choose between the two and this new measure will significantly improve the livelihood of families. She underlined that in 2012, 591 thousand women benefited from family tax allowances which cut their net liabilities on average by 150 thousand HUF per year.
Speaking about employment data the Commissioner said that in 2009 only 3.6 percent of women had a part-time job and 46.4 percent were employed full-time, and with these figures Hungary was lagging behind Europe 2012, however, these numbers could grow and i. n light of currently available data, Piroska Szalai is expecting further growth with regard to women’s employment in 2013. She highlighted the fact that last year it was for the first time that the share of mothers in employment who had children under the age of six increased, by 15 thousand, and thus the related employment rate was up by 2 percentage points.
(Ministry for National Economy)
