Romania to social workers. Thousands of welfare recipients refuse to work, even at the risk of losing them

According to the data provided to “Adevărul” by the Ministry of Labor, in Romania there were, on Tuesday, April 23, no less than 236,864 beneficiaries of the minimum income of inclusion, which replaces the former social benefits.

The minimum income for inclusion is the financial support granted by the state to ensure the minimum standard of living for families and single people in a difficult situation. It replaces social aid and family support allowance and entered into force on January 1, 2024.

In the first three months of this year, 6,582 beneficiaries of the minimum inclusion income refused to provide community service hours or report to county employment agencies.

This despite the fact that according to Law no. 196/2016, “able-bodied persons receiving a minimum income of inclusion have the obligation to provide, monthly, actions or works of local interest and to look for a job through the territorial agencies for the employment of the work”. As a result, those who refused to work were left without the minimum inclusion income.

According to the data for February 2024, the most beneficiaries of the minimum inclusion income are in the counties of Dolj (12,923), Bacău (11,831), Buzău (9,951), Suceava (9,875), Iași (9,80), Teleorman (9,744) and Vaslui (9,544).

At the opposite pole, the fewest beneficiaries of the minimum inclusion income are in Bucharest (386), Ilfov (999) and Timiș (1,630).

“Adevărul” wanted to find out from the Ministry of Labor what solutions could be found for the integration of this category of people, including in the conditions where the value of the minimum inclusion income is low.

“As integration solutions, there are also job scholarships that we organize in areas with many beneficiaries of the minimum income of inclusion. On the other hand, it is also an involvement of local authorities in training and informing these beneficiaries. These beneficiaries can have jobs not only in the place of residence. For example, a beneficiary from Bucharest can also work remotely for a company from Iași. The idea is to work”representatives from the Ministry of Labor stated for “Adevărul”.

What is the value of the minimum income of inclusion

From March 1, 2024, the value of the monthly inclusion aid for a single person is 346 lei, for a family with children – 879 lei and 504 lei for a single person over 65 years of age.

The number of unemployed people who refuse jobs has also increased a lot, as representatives of the Ministry of Labor stated for “Adevărul”. Thus, in the first three months of 2024, 1016 unemployed people refused jobs, more than three times more compared to the similar period in 2023.

“On the one hand, we can say that it is a system problem, which does not work as it should, on the other hand, we are talking about an extremely important social problem, which surely puts a huge pressure on this system. Therefore, I believe that the solution or amelioration of this problem lies in the clearer identification of the factors that generate and maintain it”psychologist Elena Sachelarie told “Adevărul”.

In her opinion, it would be extremely useful to carry out multiple researches, starting from the clear definition of the conditions under which a person falls under the conditions of granting social aid from the Romanian state, as well as understanding the obligations that social assistance has.

“Many of them refuse to work, even at the risk of losing this social aid, while others do not want to lose it. From an economic point of view, it must be seen whether the amounts of money received are ones that can be used to live decently or not, and how the integration of those who benefit from these allowances into the labor market is encouraged. The possibility of integration into the labor market, of course, must be studied, because it must be seen what the job offers are and under what conditions this work can be performed. Most of the time, the urban environment offers more employment opportunities than the rural environment”adds Elena Sachelarie.

She is also of the opinion that the social and socio-professional categories to which these people belong must be identified more accurately.

“It is obvious that at least some of them have a serious problem of socio-professional adaptation, for example the fact that they are not qualified for any kind of work, their level of professional training or education is very low, or their age is advanced , a factor that can make professional retraining a real challenge”says Elena Sachelarie.