Mary welcomes the Government’s Jobs Stimulus , the single largest state investment in Irish workers and economy in the history of our state.
The €7.4billion is designed to get Ireland’s businesses back on their feet and get as many people as possible back to work quickly.
It is the next stage in Ireland’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, building on the extensive enterprise and labour supports already deployed.
It will help protect and create jobs, help unemployed, especially young people secure training and employment, build confidence in our communities and help prepare for a greener more sustainable future.
Mary welcomes the significant investment to help people of all ages but especially young people secure employment including:
- 10,000 additional places on work placement and experience schemes available for those unemployed for over 6 months
- 12,500 additional places funded through the Training Support Grant for short term skills training
- 35,000 additional places in further and higher education. These will be delivered through a variety of measures including Skills to Compete Initiative (SOLAS), Skillnet, Springboard+ and the Human Capital Initiative, as well as through additional undergraduate and postgraduate provision in the Higher Educational Institutions
- Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme will provide a €2,000 payment to support employers to take on new apprenticeships in 2020
- Retrofit Skills Training Initiative will support future expansion of the National Retrofitting Programme
- 8,000 recruitment subsidies under the JobsPlus scheme. Subsidies of up to €7,500 over two years will be available for employers to hire someone under the age of 30 who is on the Live Register or the Pandemic Unemployment Payment
- the capacity of the Public Employment Service will be increased to support jobseekers through job search advice and assistance, including through contracted services such as JobClubs, JobPath and Local Employment Services
- the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance and Back to Education Allowance will be extended to people currently in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment
- 3,000 additional places will be funded on State Employment schemes such as Community Employment and Tús
And this stimulus is just one of multiple measures introduced by the government.