I propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 165 together.
JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who recruit employees from the Live Register and those transitioning into employment. It provides employers with two levels of payment - €7,500 or €10,000 over two years - paid in monthly instalments.
The scheme has an overall budget allocation of €28.3m for 2021. Funding is not, however, ring-fenced for any demographic over another.
The number of people under 25 years of age supported in 2020 to end of May 2021 is provided in Table 1.
The July Jobs Stimulus announced an increase to the numbers that could avail of the scheme and the number of JobsPlus places was increased by 2,000 places with effect from 1st August 2020.
The JobsPlus Scheme guidelines were revised to cater for the changes announced, as follows:
- The qualifying criteria were revised so that those under 30 can now avail of the support after 4 months on the Live Register in the previous 6 months.
- Time spent in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment can be counted for the purposes of this eligibility
The total number of Employers and the number of Employees aged 25-29 years who availed of JobsPlus since July 2020 is provided in Table 2.
Table 1.
Age category
|
No. of Participants supported from Jan 2020 – end May 2021
|
Under 25’s
|
444
|
Table 2.
Age category
|
No. of participants supported from July 2020 to date
|
Number of Employers who availed of Jobs Plus for 25-29 category from July 2020
|
25-29
|
39
|
38
|
Over the course of the last fifteen months, numbers on Jobsplus were impacted by COVID related public health restrictions , with the resultant limitations on business activity and employment levels. With the continued gradual opening of the economy and business sectors over the coming months, my Department intends to further promote the value of Jobsplus both to employers and unemployed in order to ensure that the opportunities provided by the scheme are fully availed of.