The Job Protection Scheme launched last January now assists the employment of more than 890,000 people and has reduced the financial burdens of employers by HUF 205 billion, Government Spokesperson Éva Kurucz announced.

According to the latest report on the programme, every fifth employee subsidised as part of the Job Protection Scheme is a young person under the age of 25. The programme contributes to the employment of some 168,000 school-leavers in total.

The Job Protection Scheme facilitates the employment of people nearing the retirement age in the largest proportion. Forty per cent of those employed under the auspices of the programme are aged 55 and older. Every third employee has low-level qualifications working in jobs that require no vocational qualifications. Additionally, the programme also promotes the employment of some 40,000 mothers with young children and 30,000 long-term unemployed.

The number of employees assisted as part of the Job Protection Scheme is rising continuously as employers in increasingly large numbers avail themselves of the tax benefits obtainable in the programme. This programme that seeks to boost employment has consequently greatly contributed to the achievement that unemployment has decreased in Hungary to the largest extent compared with other EU Member States in the past year.

(Prime Minister's Office)