Hungarian society should not resign itself to poverty, therefore government policy should be centred on mobilization and on creating jobs, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog said on Tuesday at the conference entitled Poverty in Hungary: chances and opportunities.
He reminded that ultimately, everyone is responsible for themselves and their families and everyone should do everything in their power to overcome their difficulties. Mr Balog said a new type of discourse with experts is needed to combat poverty. He said that the percentage of the poor and those threatened by marginalization has been reduced from 32.4 to 31.1 in 2013 and within this, the ratio of those in extreme poverty has dropped from 25.7 to 23.9 per cent. Also, the ratio of those with unpaid bills has been reduced from 26.4 to 24.9 per cent.
Mr Balog said the gross income per capita rose by 4.3 per cent in 2013 and in the first half of 2014 real wages – partly due to family tax breaks – went up by almost four per cent. He also said that the minimum wage rose from HUF 73,500 in 2010 to HUF 101,500 in 2014.
He said Hungary spends 21.3 per cent of its GDP on social affairs, compared with 20.2 per cent in the Czech Republic, 17.9 per cent in Slovakia and 17.6 per cent in Poland. In the Central European region, only Slovenia has a higher percentage than Hungary, but the Minister also reminded that the EU average is 28.3 per cent.
Mr Balog brought a concrete example of an unemployed family with three children, where the head of the family takes part in public employment: in their case, monthly state support rose by 30,000 forints compared to 2010. He also said that in the current seven-year EU budgetary period HUF 32 billion will be available from the Hungarian and EU budget for different aid initiatives.
(Ministry of Human Capacities)
