In the past three and a half years the Government has fundamentally changed the employment policy with relation to disabled people. The currently accredited organisations employ 30,500 disabled people and a further 22,655 persons have been hired by private companies thanks to the rehabilitation card, which means lower employer contributions for companies, Minister of State for Social and Family Affairs Miklós Soltész said on Tuesday at the inauguration of a new workplace employing disabled people in the southwest Hungarian town of Csurgó.

Mr. Soltész added that the Government considers it important that the products of such units are actually sold, mostly through the “Helping Fair” initiative. The new unit will assemble about 10,000 lamps per month, with plans to expand capacity to 20-25,000 per month, thus creating further jobs.
The location of the new unit is a side building of the Csurgó vocational school, provided to the employer, Kézmű Nonprofit Ltd. at no charge by the local municipality. The 14 million forint (EUR 45,000) reconstruction of the building was financed from a state grant of 189 million forints (EUR 614,000), won by the firm at a state tender issued by the National Rehabilitation and Social Office.

Kézmű Nonprofit Ltd. has 95 units across the country and employs 4,500 people, 75% of whom are disabled. Compared with January 2013, the number of disabled people seeking jobs has fallen by 43.9 percent and 15,000 more disabled people are now employed than at the end of the previous administration’s mandate.

(Ministry of Human Resources)