]
Country study entitled "
"
Social Protection
During the preparations for EU enlargement, the European Commission constantly
sought to improve its knowledge of the challenges to social cohesion, and of the
strategic policy responses adopted in candidate countries to tackle these challenges.
An important milestone was the 2002 project to prepare for the accession
states to plug into the ongoing process of exchange of good practice within
the Union. With this in mind, a series of studies was conducted to describe and
analyse the social protection systems in the 13 candidate countries on the basis
of a common methodology, identifying the major challenges facing each in the
social, economic and demographic contexts, assessing recent reform efforts,
and highlighting major issues for further reform. TRKI prepared the Hungarian
study, which covered such issues as pensions, health, poverty and social
exclusion. Using a common format, the country studies described and analysed the
main features of the social protection system as it was then, considering the
economic, financial, social and demographic context in which the system operated.
"In the 1990s, Hungary had to manage a deep debt crisis, go
through a long overdue restructuring of its industry, privatize
its economy, build up the institutional background for a market
economy, and create a social protection system in order to handle
the social consequences of economic transition. As a result of
the necessary measures taken by consecutive governments, GDP fell
by almost 20 percent from its 1989 peak, in four years.
Employment dropped from 5.2 million in 1990 to 3.6 million in
1996." (from the country report "Social Protection in
Hungary")
Downloads
Country study entitled "Social Protection in Hungary
" from European Comission's site.
Visit the EC Social Protection website.
Country study entitled "Social Protection in Hungary
" from European Comission's site.
"The Hungarian economy has achieved strong growth since 1997,
with a temporary slowdown between 2001-2003. Though the
employment rate of the working-age population improved to 57% in
2003, it remains significantly below the EU average. Despite
rising considerably in the recent years, the employment rate of
older workers is also far below the EU average. Unemployment
remained low at 5.8%, while its long-term component is still high
(41.1 %). The activity rate totalled 60.6% in 2003 and remains
one of the most acute problems of the Hungarian labour market.
The problems of unemployment and poverty continue to have strong
ethnic and regional related origins. With life expectancy at
birth well below the EU average for both men and women, the
health status of the population continues to remain a real
concern." This is the assessment of the annual Joint Report on
Social Protection and Social Inclusion that was finalised in
March 2005 and focuses on social inclusion and pensions.
Visit the EC Social Protection website.
