The Employment and Training Corporation's new employability programme co-financed by the European Social Fund was launched this morning by Social Policy Minister John Dalli and Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said.

The programme is intended to strengthen job seekers' skills.

Training and retraining programmes include more than 200 courses to be offered to over 21,000 trainees in Malta and Gozo over the coming three years.

Labour market integration training would also be offered, including job search assistance initiatives, training in basic skills and work orientation.

Those who have few skills or qualifications would be provided basic, remedial skills and vocational training. People in employment wishing to upgrade their skills would also be offered retraining programmes in a wide range of areas.

The ETC would also be extending its popular traineeship model of on-the-job and off-the-job training in areas of labour market demand.

For people with skills but no qualifications, the programme provided for the development of a number of occupational standards and assessment, in close liaison with employers and the Malta Qualifications Council. The self-employed and those working in micro-enterprises, would benefit from a refund of 75 percent of their training cost (up to a maximum grant of €1,000) when they followed training approved by the ETC.

This morning's news conference also launched the second extension to the ETC’s new training centre co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. Also launched this morning was the second extension to this centre. The work, estimated to cost over €600,000, started this month and was expected to take one year to complete. The new block would consist of 10 training rooms, equipped with the latest technology, and would be adjoined to the old block by a steel bridge. The training complex would be fully accessible to persons with disability.