JobsPlus, to be launched in the Summer, will pay a portion of employer costs in recruiting a person who is long-term unemployed
The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, this morning (Wednesday,26th March 2013) delivered the closing address at the National Employment Summit in Dublin’s Convention Centre. This is one of the events taking place during National Employment Week, a forum focusing on the social and economic issues around employment in Ireland.
At the Summit, Minister Burton spoke about the Action Plan for Jobs 2013. This year’s Action Plan contains 333 actions to be implemented in 2013 by 16 Government Departments and 46 agencies.
Minister Burton said: "Among the high-impact measures planned is JobsPlus - a new scheme developed and managed by my Department in which the State will incentivise employers to hire those who are long-term unemployed. Employers hiring a person who has been on the Live Register for between 12 and 24 months will qualify for a fixed grant payment of €7,500. In respect of recruits who have been more than 24 months on the Live Register, the fixed grant payment will increase to €10,000.
"The plan also includes measures in the areas of ICT skills, health innovation and energy efficiency to name but a few – for example, the Government is establishing a €70 million Energy Efficiency Fund aimed at creating 5,000 jobs.
"My goal, as Minister for Social Protection, is to try to maximise the employment potential of these initiatives, and in particular, to maximise the number of people who leave the Live Register to take up the new jobs created."
The theme of this year’s National Employment Week is ‘Connecting talent & opportunity’ which looks at bringing employers and jobseekers closer to each other through a series of events for employers and an on-line forum for jobseekers.
The employer events focus on a series of master classes and sharing of best practice across the following topics:
1. Attracting talent through Social Media
2. Developing Graduate Programmes
3. Acquiring talent to meet FDI demand
Each stream focuses on practical measures that employers can take back to their businesses and implement immediately. The objective of the event is for employers to increase their connectivity to talent streams and in turn support sustainable employment.
Turning her focus to employers, Minister Burton said: "Last year, I set up a new employer relations unit in my Department; the first major initiative of this unit was to organise seven road-shows for employers all around the country towards the end of last year. These road-shows, which were attended by about 2,000 people, allowed us to promote the various supports that my Department can offer employers but also gave employers a chance to tell us what they believed we needed to do better or differently. This feedback led directly to the development by my Department of the JobsPlus Initiative."
The JobsPlus scheme will provide two levels of incentive - the higher €10,000 incentive for the recruitment of people who are unemployed for more than 24 months and the lower €7,500 rate for those who are unemployed for between 12 months and 24 months. It is expected that the scheme will be launched by the end of June 2013.
Minister Burton concluded her address by appealing to employers: "I would ask that employers examine my Department’s schemes and work with the Department to try to make sure that when a vacancy arises in their business, they give someone who is unemployed, particularly people who are long-term unemployed and young unemployed people, a chance to prove themselves."