Community work pilot project for jobless people

A total of 100 jobless are being drawn into the labour force under a pilot project that will have them doing community service and earning 75 per cent of the minimum wage.

For now, the scheme, which starts in the coming weeks, is a pilot project. But the aim was to eradicate the attitude that being unemployed is "acceptable", Social Policy Minister John Dalli said at its launch yesterday.

"We want to create a culture of work and productivity," Mr Dalli said, pointing out that whole families were on the dole - sometimes grandfather, father and son - instilling in the younger generations the concept of a life that excluded work. This was a social problem and these people had to be drawn out of the rut they were in, he said.

The pilot project is targeting 70 Maltese and 30 Gozitans from an eligible 373 (according to 2008 figures) and will last six months. The plan is to roll it out to everyone on benefits eventually.

Participants have been chosen on the basis of age - under 51 - and how long they have been out of a job (over five years). They would be working 30 hours a week and receiving €109.85, which includes social benefits. The community work is not voluntary and if anyone refuses it without a valid reason, they would be struck off the register and lose their benefits.

In line with the ministry's and the Employment and Training Corporation's objective to assist unemployed citizens, the first aim, apart from creating jobs, was having "the need to work", Mr Dalli said. The scheme would also serve to control abuse, whereby people would work while registering as unemployed.

"The money used to help those in need comes from the community and it is, therefore, in the public's interest to do everything possible to eradicate any abuse from the system," the minister said.

Sixty local councils and three NGOs have signed up to the scheme to offer jobs, which Mr Dalli insisted had to be "serious, not fictitious".

A tender for a monitoring service of the scheme has been issued and a private company would be carrying out 100 inspections a week to ensure conditions were being adhered to, he said.

The participants would not be working in their locality but would not have to catch more than one bus to their workplace.

Set on "attacking" the abuse of social security, Mr Dalli said a stronger monitoring system was being introduced, preventing people from signing for each other, for example. The frequency of registration was being increased and new hardware introduced.