€12 million Jobsplus scheme launched to boost employment

A €12 million scheme has been launched to improve accessibility to employment. It will be administered by Jobsplus and will primarily target disadvantaged individuals.

It is also intended to combat the country’s labour shortage.

The scheme was launched by the Minster for the Economy, European Funds and Lands, Silvio Schembri, and the Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds, Chris Bonnet.

"Last year alone, over a thousand applications were made for this scheme, and 564 people were successfully employed. Since June 2015, through this scheme 3,200 people entered the world of work, of these 51 per cent were women, 15 per cent were over the age of 55 and 16 per cent were disabled persons. 78 per cent were people who have been unemployed or inactive for more than two years," said Minister Schembri.

The people who are eligible to benefit from the scheme are those who:

• Are over 24 years old and have been unemployed for 24 months.
• Are over 50 years old and unemployed.
• Have only completed secondary education.
• Have a disability.

Through the scheme, employers will receive a €110.93 subsidy per week for employing aforementioned individuals full-time, or €55.47 per week for employing them part-time.

It will be paid out for a period of 52 or 104 weeks, depending on which category of people is employed.

When employing workers with a disability, the employer is given €166.40 per week for full-time employment or €83.20 for part-time employment for a maximum of 156 weeks.​​

Mr Bonett said that this scheme is being financed with European funds disbursed from the European Social Fund, of which Malta has been allocated €40 million to invest in workers and labour market resilience.