The new social scheme for families with social assistance, presented by the Government of Kosovo, is being assessed as ineffective by experts in the economy, which they say is being done in the framework of a political campaign. Meanwhile, social work experts question whether this reform will be able to work as planned.

Within this scheme, persons between the ages of 18 and 64 who are able to work will be subsidized with 70 percent of their salary in the businesses where they will be employed for six months and they will not automatically leave the scheme social.

The professor of economics, Musafë Kadrijaj, in a statement for KosovaPress, calls the reform in the social scheme a failure, since according to him it cannot work in practice. He points out that these types of social policies are only reducing the well-being of citizens.

Kadrijaj emphasizes that the current Government has made this reform within the framework of the political campaign. He says that instead, the minimum wage should be increased and businesses should be empowered, so that citizens are not dependent on social assistance.

The former director of the Center for Social Work in Prishtina, Vebi Mujku, doubts whether this will work, because according to him, many of the beneficiaries will work informally, just so that they are not eliminated from the social assistance scheme.

For KosovaPress, Mujku says that able-bodied citizens, who refuse twice or more jobs from employment offices, should be eliminated from the scheme for receiving social assistance.

In addition, Mujku points out that families who are financially weak and cannot work due to health conditions, should be supported even more.

Among other things, Mujku estimates that in this case the category of citizens who receive only the minimum wage remain discriminated against. For this he made the comparison that the second category is subsidized by the Government in salary for six consecutive months and that in the same period they continue to benefit from social assistance. 

On Friday, at the Government meeting, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that this measure aims at equality and promoting employment. Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance Hekuran Murati emphasized that through this scheme, the aim is to encourage the employment of members of families benefiting from social assistance.

It was said there that people from 18 to 64 years old must be registered as jobseekers and that each business that engages employees from this scheme for the first 6 months will be subsidized 70 percent of the salary 350 to 500 euros gross salary, while in the six months the second will be subsidized by 20 percent.

Full news in the prepaid system.