The government spent HUF 179 billion (EUR 590 million) last year on public employment programmes; this year HUF 231 billion (EUR 770 million) is earmarked with an additional HUF 4,7 billion (EUR 15,7 million) – said Deputy State Secretary Imre Hoffman at an expo about public employment in Békéscsaba, southeast Hungary.
Deputy State Secretary Hoffmann said that in the first year 35 thousand people participated in different public employment programmes, this number rose to 398 thousand in 2013. By 20 August this year, more than 307 thousand people have taken part in such schemes.
According to the Deputy State Secretary, micro-regional Start model programmes are both successful and popular. He noted that whereas in 2011 480 local governments were involved in such programmes, this number rose to 1724 by 20 August 2014.