The Employment Aid Programme

The Employment Aid Programme seeks to enhance the employability and productivity of persons with low employment rates; to facilitate access to employment and upgrade the skills of those furthest away from the labour market; and to contribute to increase the country’s labour supply and achieve greater social cohesion.

This programme is intended to increase the employment rate of the target groups listed hereunder:

Any person who is under 25 and is within two years after completing full-time education and who has not previously obtained his/her first regular paid employment (not exceeding six months of full-time employment) after completing his/her studies;

Any person who wishes to enter or to re-enter working life and who has been absent both from work and education for at least two years; Any person living as a single adult looking after dependents;

Any person who has not attained upper secondary level qualifications or equivalent and who has been made redundant in the past six months or is served with a redundancy notice of termination of employment. Cases which deal with persons whose contract was terminated due to the closure of the Company may be eligible. However, these are dealt with on a case-by-case basis;

Any person older than 50 who does not have a job or who is losing his/her job; Any long-term registered unemployed person, i.e. any person who has been unemployed for 12 of the previous 16 months or six of the previous eight months in the case of persons under 25;

Any person who is a registered disabled person and who has a recognised, serious, physical, mental or psychological impairment.

All employers, including a partnership, company, association or other body of persons, whether vested with legal personality or not, and are recruiting new employees can be eligible to participate in the programme. Furthermore, through the Employment Aid Programme, employers will receive a subsidy equivalent to 50 per cent of the wage costs i.e. half the basic salary excluding bonuses, allowances, commission or overtime together with half the employer’s national insurance for a period of 52 weeks. In the case of a registered disabled person, employers may benefit from a three month subsidy equivalent to 75 per cent of the wage costs of the first year and 50 per cent of the wage costs of the second and third year.

The subsidy is reimbursed to the employer after the twelfth month from the date of engagement of each participant enrolled on the Aid Programme. The Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) will verify that all the conditions listed in the contract have been received, checked and certified. After verification and certification from the relevant entities, the Treasury of Malta will subsequently issue the payment due. The Employment Aid Programme will be co-financed by the European Social Fund, the Maltese Government and Employer.

The scheme is in line with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 800/2008 of the August 6, 2008 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid for employment and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities on August 9, 2008.

For more information, one can contact the Employment and Training Corporation on 22201217/219/235.

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