Employers Must Support New Employment Scheme

Employers must collaborate with the Executive to create opportunities and placements in order to support the young and unemployed, according to Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry.

Dr Farry was addressing employers at a breakfast seminar in the Titanic Signature building this morning.

The seminar was promoting the new Youth Employment Scheme (YES), a £31m package intended to encourage employment and create skills incentives to combat unemployment among young people.

The Minister urged employers to support the scheme providing relevant work experience opportunities which would be supported by employer subsidies.

Dr Farry said: "Without relevant recent work experience many of our young people, including those recently graduated, are finding it difficult to compete for the jobs that are available. The Youth Employment Scheme is a £31m package which provides employment and skills incentives to address the issue.

"Core strands of this new scheme include early intensive diagnosis of employability skills, work experience flexibly blended with skills training and a new employer subsidy worth up to £5,570 per year.

"In addition, we are investing a further £10m to deliver the initiatives set out in our NEETs Strategy - Pathways to Success to help those young people most marginalised in our society engage effectively with the world of work."

The programme is also offering "enhanced support" through additional Adviser time from both the Employment and Careers Services.

Participants will be paid a training allowance of £100 a week while on work experience, with employers receiving support up to a maximum of £750.

(IT)