Youth unemployment rate declines from last year, says Labor state secretary

The unemployment rate among young people is declining from last year, from 23.7 percent to 21.5 percent. In 2013 grant professional training schemes for young people with marginalization risk will be accessed, based on the funding provided through the European Social Fund (ESF), Labor Family and Social Protection Ministry Secretary of State Georgeta Bratu told Agerpres on Tuesday.

“In this program, we plan to include about 5,000 young persons, for training. The jobs will be identified together with the Economy Ministry, to direct them to the technical area, depending on the demand on the labour market. I find there is also a concern of the employers’ associations for the industry invigoration, therefore an interest in training tradesmen,” Bratu added.

On the other hand, in the professional training programs, a number of 10,500,000 persons will be included, but not only young people. During the professional training period, allowances worth 50 percent of the level of the reference social indicator will be granted.

“For the young people with marginalization risk we plan to launch a program next year by which employers will benefit for two years from 50 percent of the value of the unemployment benefit that the young persons would benefit from if laid off at the termination of contract,” Bratu also said.

At European Union level, around 7.5 million people aged 15 to 24 are not in employment, education or training. The economic crisis has made finding a job much harder. More than 1 in 5 young people are out of work. In Greece and Spain the figure is higher than 1 in 2. To help them, the Commission is proposing a package of measures, including a recommendation for EU countries to implement a job and training guarantee program for those aged under 25.