Szociális ellátások a társadalombiztosítási családtámogatás rendszerében

Abstract

Introduction and aim: In my study, analysing the data available from the change of the regime to the present day, from among the social services, I examine the changes of the financial support relating to children and its parts which are currently financed from the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary, with special emphasis on the Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Allowance and their modifications. Data and methods: Within the framework of our research, we analyze – through data from the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Hungarian State Treasury as well as on the basis of literature review – the social financial support and its changes, within the family policy system. Results: Hungarian family policy is still driven by the attitude of staying at home for three years with the child. The long period spent at home with the children fundamentally affects the adjustment of mothers to the labour market which has a direct effect on the economic productivity. Even though according to the current regulations, mothers are allowed to work full-time besides receiving child care allowance after their child fills 6 months, part-time employment and telework is still in its infancy compared to the Western-European countries. Based on our research, high percentage of families go for the child care benefit directly after the birth of the child thus not participating in the labour market processes. Besides if they do participate, the percentage of employment on minimal wage is still very high which means that in 2016–2017 36% of families with two breadwinners and two children were forced to survive on subsistence income. Conclusion: In the examined period, we found that social and family policy changes unfortunately were not able to react sufficiently to the demographic challenges despite Hungary spending significantly more on family policy than other European and OECD countries. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(Suppl 1): 43–48.