Publication: Hungary : Long-term Poverty, Social Protection, and the Labor Market, Volume 2. Technical Papers
Date
2001-04
ISSN
Published
2001-04
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
This report documents the emergence of a
group of long-term poor in Hungary. While growth will
continue to be necessary to create well-paying jobs that
would enable people to escape poverty, the long term poor
are not likely to benefit from growth since they are
detached from the labor market, socially excluded, and in
many cases, facing discrimination which keeps them from
reintegrating into the labor market. The long-term poor in
Hungary are comprised of several distinct social groups: the
homeless, rural population particularly those living in
micro-communities, unemployed or withdrawn from the labor
market, households with more than three children, single
parent families, single elderly females, and the Roma. A
third of the long-term poor are of Roma ethnicity, even
though this group is only approximately 5 percent of the
Hungarian population. The analysis of the labor market
confirms the connection between long-term unemployment and
long-term poverty. One of the messages of this report is
that the Roma need good-paying jobs first and foremost. Many
Roma villages are characterized by a cycle of dependency on
state transfers. Reinsertion programs are needed to break
this cycle. In the medium term, emphasis on providing
high-quality general education to the Roma is needed. These
challenges for Hungary are complicated by decentralization,
which may lead to unequal treatment of the poor, with less
financing available where social programs are most needed.
Citation
“World Bank. 2001. Hungary : Long-term Poverty, Social Protection, and the Labor Market, Volume 2. Technical Papers. © Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15525 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”