The general framework of the pre-budget document points to the kind of society the economy is supposed to promote, the Church's Peace and Justice Commission said.

Presenting its reflections on the social and environmental aspects mentioned in the government pre-budget document, which will be presented to Parliament on November 14, the commission said the document usly focuses on the economic side of the labour market, emphasising the potential of work for economic growth.

Yet its general framework pointed to the kind of society that the economy was supposed to promote and there were three points that should be followed-up and developed further.

The commission said that one such point concerned the relation of employment to social inclusion.

"In principle, it is true that a decent job gives one not only a sense of self-esteem but an opportunity to function as an active member of society.

"The problem, however, would be how people living in poverty and on the margin of society can be adequately and properly assisted to enter the labour market.
"Over and above training and education, these people have a host of other more basic and urgent needs, such as inadequate housing and health-care support as well as lack of basic life-skills and a strong enough motivation to move out of a state of dependency."

The commission said the document observed that "persons who become dependent on the welfare state end up being trapped in such a system". The problem was not seen simply in terms of the application of external measures that would weed off undeserving people off the system. It involved a culture change from one of dependency to one of contribution. Essentially, this would imply the cultivation of a sense of justice that would dispose one to contribute to the common good.

A society that is based not only on distributive but also on contributive justice required, as the pre-budget document says, greater cooperation between business, government and training or educational institutions to create a truly contributory culture. What this cooperation involved in practice was not spelled out. But the point deserved a lot of attention, the commission said.

It said that the importance of balancing the three major concerns of sustainable development - environmental, economic and social was acknowledged.

However, the major concern seemed to be shifted to economic concerns. Environmental concerns seemed to 'make sense' only within the context of them being the source of more economic gains and social concerns were noticeably lacking.

The full text can be read in the pdf link below.