How can the EU funds help us?

Currently, six national projects are being funded by the Human Resources Programme between 2014 and 2020. These projects target all three at-risk groups, namely young people up to 26 years old, the long-term unemployed and people over 50 years old. €280 million is earmarked for projects. More than €1 billion will go to support it in the coming years.

The Labour Department concentrates on the employment of the unemployed and not on certain sectors and industries. It would also not fit with the conditions of state aid for the use of EU funds under the Human Resources Operational Programme. The projects are likely to support and employ around 90 000 unemployed people. These EU funds mainly help the young, the long-term unemployed, but also the elderly who cannot find a job for a long time.

The first project is called ‘Practice to Employment’. It is a project that should give almost 16 000 young people what school has not given them, which is work experience. Based on the project conditions, employers can apply to the employment office for a graduate allowance for mentored placement and work experience.

The second programme – Graduate work experience starts a job – allows the employer to receive a contribution for the graduate to pay for the health and social contributions of the graduate who has previously worked for them and employed them. However, the condition is that the graduate must be employed full-time for at least 9 months, but the Job Centre will only provide the allowance for half a year.

The Eurofunds can also help young unemployed people to set up their own business. They will help them to start a business. They can get a start-up allowance from the Job Centre if they run their business for at least two years. 50 million euros are earmarked for this project for 10,000 people.

Those unemployed for more than a year should also be given a chance to get a job. About 50 million euros are earmarked for the project, for more than 10,000 unemployed people. It is a public employment support, where the employer can be a municipality, a non-profit organisation or a foundation.

The fifth programme – The way out of the cycle of unemployment – focuses on the long-term unemployed. The programme also has an allocation of €50 million for more than 7 000 people. The condition is that the employer must employ them for at least 15 months on a full- or part-time basis.

The last project – We want to be active on the labour market – focuses on unemployed people over 50. An employer who gives a job to an unemployed person of that age for at least one year will have the social and health contributions for that employee paid by the Labour Office. Around 30 million euros have been earmarked for this project for over 5 000 people of this age.