JobsPlus scheme leads to 1,600 jobs

Almost 1,600 long-term unemployed have been taken off the Live Register in the last eight months by employers who signed up to the Government’s JobsPlus employment scheme.

JobsPlus is designed to encourage employers and businesses to focus their recruitment drive on those who have been out of work for long periods.

Participating companies receive regular cash payments to offset wage costs when they employ eligible jobseekers.

The level of payment is increased for the recruitment of those out of work for more than two years. That means:

nA payment of €7,500 over two years to an employer for people recruited who have been unemployed for between 12 and 24 months;

nA payment of €10,000 over two years to an employer who recruits a person who has been two years or more on the Live Register.

According to the Department of Social Protection, as of February 21, a total of 2,820 employers had registered to check their eligibility for JobsPlus.

Of those, 2,687 have been approved, while 57 employers have been rejected. The main reason for rejection was that employers did not hold a valid tax clearance certificate.

To the same date, 6,128 jobseekers had applied to check their eligibility. Of those, 4,728 were eligible, while 1,182 did not satisfy the conditions for the incentive.

The department confirmed that payments for the JobsPlus scheme were issued to 1,231 employers in respect of 1,589 employees on February 28.

A breakdown of those payments by county showed that, unsurprisingly, counties Dublin (451) and Cork (149) had the largest share of employees to whom payments were being made.

In order to qualify, an employer must offer full-time employment of more than 30 hours a week, spanning at least four days a week to eligible recruits. The department said the scheme is available to employers “when filling new positions that arise as a consequence of natural turnover”.

To ensure that employers do not let existing staff go to take on cheaper recruits through the scheme, they must provide details of their workforce prior to application.

Where an increase in the workforce is not evident, employers will be asked to provide additional information to the department to support the application.