Government okays schemes tackling unemployment

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved three new schemes aiming to motivate the hiring of unemployed persons, ex-convicts, and youth, budgeted at €31 million.

The first scheme provides incentives for the hiring of unemployed persons, budgeted at €17 million. Specifically, the scheme offers employers a grant up to €8,600 for a period of 10 months for every new recruitment through the scheme, which aims to facilitate the recruitment of 2,000 unemployed persons over the next year.

The second scheme provides incentives for the recruitment of ex-convicts, budgeted at €4 million, and aiming at the social integration and rehabilitation through labour of people recently released from prison. The scheme will grants of up to €20,640 for a period of two years for every new recruitment of a person who has recently been released from jail and who is unemployed, with the scheme aiming to see 200 such new recruitments over the next year.

The third scheme, budgeted at €10 million, provides incentives for the recruitment of unemployed youth aged 15 to 29. The scheme aims to boost the employment prospects of youth, but also to support businesses affected by the pandemic. The scheme provides a grant of up to €8,600 for a period of ten months for every new recruitment made through the scheme, which aims at facilitating 1,200 new recruitments of unemployed youth over the next year.

To participate in any of the above schemes, employers must ensure that the salaries they pay those recruited through the scheme are not lower than minimum wage, that they do not lay off any employees in order to hire new ones through the scheme, and that they keep those recruited through the scheme for at least two months after the end of the grant period.