ZAGREB, April 19 (Hina) - The Federation of Croatian Workers' Unions (URSH) does not agree with assessments presented by ministers Joso Skara, Borislav Skegro, Marko Sirac and Jure Radic, saying that unemployment allowances are not
motivating the unemployed to search for jobs and that black labour of officially unemployed citizens is in most cases a consequence of the extensive rights the unemployed enjoy, URSH president Boris Kust told a new conference on Monday. The Government is looking in the wrong place if it is trying to find the culprits for the slow filling of budgetary funds. The main culprit for the collapse of state funds is the Government's policy, and the unemployed are least to be blamed for it, Kunst said. In March, only 51,530 out of 318,157 unemployed received unemployment allowances, amounting to between 145 and 234 German marks. Over the whole past year, only 332 unemployed refused re-training, and in the first two months of this year, only 18 unemployed refused to be re-trained after which they lost the right to receive allowances. It is therefore unfair to say that someone has refused an offered job or re-training because he is better off enjoying the allegedly high benefits of the Croatian Employment Bureau (HZZ), Kunst said.
ZAGREB, April 19 (Hina) - The Federation of Croatian Workers'
Unions (URSH) does not agree with assessments presented by
ministers Joso Skara, Borislav Skegro, Marko Sirac and Jure Radic,
saying that unemployment allowances are not motivating the
unemployed to search for jobs and that black labour of officially
unemployed citizens is in most cases a consequence of the extensive
rights the unemployed enjoy, URSH president Boris Kust told a new
conference on Monday.
The Government is looking in the wrong place if it is trying to find
the culprits for the slow filling of budgetary funds. The main
culprit for the collapse of state funds is the Government's policy,
and the unemployed are least to be blamed for it, Kunst said.
In March, only 51,530 out of 318,157 unemployed received
unemployment allowances, amounting to between 145 and 234 German
marks. Over the whole past year, only 332 unemployed refused re-
training, and in the first two months of this year, only 18
unemployed refused to be re-trained after which they lost the right
to receive allowances. It is therefore unfair to say that someone
has refused an offered job or re-training because he is better off
enjoying the allegedly high benefits of the Croatian Employment
Bureau (HZZ), Kunst said.
The URSH also condemned statements by the four ministers that
allowances were not motivating the unemployed to search for jobs,
saying the basis for the calculation of unemployment allowances
amounted to only DM91. Black labour is an important social "shock-
absorber" of the economic and tax policies which discourage regular
employment, Kunst said.
According to Kunst, there are about 430,000 unemployed persons in
Croatia today.
(hina) rml