Government increases number of welfare recipients

The number of beneficiaries of social welfare will rise following the introduction of amendments to the regulations concerning benefit by the Government, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on February 8, Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said the minimum guaranteed monthly income per person, on which the size of the social welfare depends, will be increased from 430 lei in 2009 to 530 lei in 2010. Also, the agricultural incomes of the families owning farmland where none of the adult members is able-bodied or where all the members are older than 75 will not be taken into account. Another modification aimed at stimulating employment is the provision of an exemption of 60 lei from the salary income when calculating the benefit. The social welfare is a monthly sum paid to the families in difficulty. It represents the difference between the minimum guaranteed income of 530 lei per person and the total incomes earned by the family. “The benefit is designed to reduce the poverty level. The state must protect the families that encounter difficulties and help the poor,” Valentina Buliga said, stressing that the dependence on social welfare should not be encouraged. “We must identify mechanisms to motivate the people to work, not to transform them into recipients of state benefit.” More than 18,000 disadvantaged families received social welfare last month. According to projections, about 40,000 families will benefit from welfare to the value of 202 million lei by the end of this year.