A pilot programme will be launched next week at labour offices in the underdeveloped east of the country to place fostered workers in primary labour market jobs with the cooperation of employers, daily Magyar Idők said on Friday. The pilot programme will be implemented by the National Employment Nonprofit and a professional partner picked in a public procurement procedure, state secretary Sándor Bodó told the paper. The programme will start in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and Hajdú-Bihar County, but will be expanded throughout the country
after fine-tuning, he added. The programme involves transforming labour offices into employment centres that can match the skills of potential workers to the needs of local employers, while boosting the efficiency of adult education through short-term vocational courses. At least 50,000 Hungarians must find employment on the primary labour market for the programme to be deemed successful, Bodó said. A little more than 131,000 Hungarians were participating in fostered work programmes in June, the latest data from the Central Statistical Office show.