NAV requirements are to be even more stringent. This is what Anniken Hauglie - Minister of Labor and Social Affairs wants. She calls for extending the obligation to maintain professional activity to all beneficiaries of the social welfare system. Currently, such a solution applies to people under 30 years of age and, in their opinion, this has reduced the number of young beneficiaries.
Stricter NAV requirements for young people
According to Anniken Hauglie, the tightened NAV requirements for young people have brought the expected results. Obligation to maintain professional activity (norw. activation file) was introduced after a growing trend was observed among people under 30 in receiving various types of benefits. In 2013, there were 44 664 such beneficiaries, and three years later it increased to 47 721.
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NAV requirements tightened from January 1, 2017
The growing number of young beneficiaries was behind the introduction of the obligation to maintain professional activity among those applying for social assistance from NAV. The aim was to make young people independent of state support and to encourage them to become more involved in the labor market. The effects came quickly - at the end of 2017, the number of young beneficiaries was 10 26 people lower.
- "Although we cannot clearly state that it is directly related to the introduction of the obligation to maintain professional activity, there are certainly reasons to believe it" - said the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in an interview with Nettavisen.
The minister encourages the municipalities
Anniken Hauglie urges municipalities to go even further and create even stricter NAV requirements. Insists that the obligation to remain active should be extended to all persons who are entitled to various social benefits. In her opinion, municipalities that have already introduced new NAV requirements for people under 30 will have an easier task if they decide to extend this criterion to other groups of beneficiaries.
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Professional activity - what does it mean?
It is worth knowing what the obligation to maintain professional activity among the beneficiaries of social assistance is related to. In practice, this means that currently people under 30 who want to use various types of benefits must undertake activities aimed at taking up employment. The activities may include the following:
- undertaking various types of courses aimed at extending competences or learning a new profession,
- waiting for an offer that will match the competences and skills of an unemployed person - applies only to those who are experienced in a given area and want to use their knowledge at work in a specific position.
Currently, NAV places such requirements only on young people. As it turns out, Anniken Hauglie wants to extend this obligation to other groups of social welfare beneficiaries. Currently, it only persuades the municipalities to do so - it is possible, however, that other steps will be taken to introduce new requirements.
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