State secretary sees public workers, pensioners as reserve for labour market

Public workers, pensioners and mothers with young children represent a reserve for the primary labour market, the state secretary for the labour market and training said on Tuesday.

Pensioners’ cooperatives have been set up to promote the employment of pensioners and the introduction of flexible working hours serves the employment of mothers with young children, Peter Cseresnyés told a press conference.

A scheme helping public workers return to the business sector will continue, with 4,400 applications for funding submitted in 2016 and 4,700 last year.

The government’s labour policy measures focus on three areas: training, boosting mobility and expanding employment, he added.

Cseresnyés noted that significant measures had been taken in vocational training and adult education over the recent period so as to meet the needs of the labour market.

In order to improve the mobility of workers, support for rental fees that employers can offer will increase by monthly 30,000 forints (EUR 96) to 60 percent of the minimum wage or 82,800 forints.

Deputy state secretary Attila Simon said youth unemployment was around 30 percent in Hungary in 2010, about the same level as in Greece and Spain, but has since been reduced to 10.4 percent. A scheme to promote the employment of people under 25 started in 2015 and will run through 2021, he added.

Source: MTI