Introduction
The most important task of the public employment system is to activate long term unemployed people and to prevent permanent job seekers from getting out of the working life. There are the people of working age, with low education and no professional skills that are the most difficult to involve in employment. Public employment offers work primarily for these people.
The coordination of the new public employment system was transferred to the Ministry of Interior in July 2011 for the purpose of offering temporary employment to individuals, durably excluded from the primary labour market, generally living in disadvantaged districts and settlements and putting in place conditions and opportunities for value-adding work by financing the direct expenses on employment.
It is another important objective to include in our programmes the development and learning of a working culture required for finding a job on the primary labour market, the acquisition of the required qualifications and laying down the foundation of actual producing, self-sustaining “social enterprises”, social cooperatives based on public employment.
The public employment system provides an income for hundreds of thousands of citizens and their families each year, also contributing to the development of settlements, and the creation of a more orderly attractive and cleaner residential and natural environment.
The Government still considers public employment temporary employment providing a job and income to job seekers instead of benefits in the most disadvantaged regions of the country, where this type of employment is the only legal option.
Public employment is a special form of employment
Public employment is a special form of employment, as this legal relationship is somewhat different from primary labour market employment. The subsidized period may be maximum 12 months in the case of the individual public employment programmes, and this can be extended by maximum 6 additional months.
The income collected under public employment is higher than the amount of the social benefit, but lower than the lowest wage on the primary labour market.
Based on the public employment legal relationship, the public worker is entitled to social insurance and old-age pension.
More information on the current status of Public Work Scheme (PWS) in Hungary
Average monthly number of participants in the Public Work Scheme