Diverting Welfare Paths: Ethnicisation of Unemployment and Public Work in Hungary*

Abstract

A new vision of "illiberal democracy" was introduced by the Orbán-led Fidesz government in the 2010s, which marked the end of the welfare state, and the central element of the political discourse once again became the creation of a labour-based society. The new workfarist trend in employment indicated a new direction in active labour market policy, favouring public work schemes. However, public work regulations put a disproportionate burden on the Roma unemployed, while disregarding the contributing factors leading to their material deprivation. This paper examines the new direction in employment and unemployment policy measures, a policy terrain where the workfare regime can be best detected. We placed special emphasis on the Roma minority and how their employment situation is effected by the anti-welfare turn.

Hungary’s illiberal border politics and the exploitation of social, spatial and temporal distinctions

“…What in practice functions since 2010 as a workfare regime is informed by narratives of poverty as self-inflicted and thus primarily targets those 'worthy' of support. Roma populations are clearly most at risk as the workfare regime subjects them to tight bureaucratic control in which local governments not only distinguish between deserving and undeserving poor but also maintain spatial and social boundaries between Roma communities and other local inhabitants (Hungler and Kende, 2021;Virág, 2020). At the same time, the ideological centrality of traditional families is manifested in social policies that target 'middle-class families with an average or above-average income' (Pivarnyikv, 2018) and the demonization of samesex marriages, for example, through legislation that effectively bans them from adopting children.…”