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TO DATE, 1,200 employers and more than 2,400 jobseekers have registered for the new JobsPlus Scheme.
The Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton revealed the figures when she was addressing a group of HR managers at a conference today.
New scheme
Earlier this year, the government launched the JobsPlus scheme – a new employer incentive scheme to recruit people who are long-term unemployed. This new initiative replaced both the Revenue Job Assist Scheme and the Employer PRSI Incentive Scheme.
Under the initiative if an employer hires a person who is long term unemployed and is eligible to take up the scheme, the employer will receive a financial incentive of either €7,500 or €10,000 over a two year period.
The sum of money the employer receives depends on the duration time the person they hire has been unemployed.
Higher uptake
Minister Burton said the application rate is more than three times higher than for the PRSI exemption scheme, which she said is “very encouraging”.
She added that the expertise of the private sector helped hugely in developing both JobsPlus and JobBridge.
The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said that if the JobPlus scheme is going to be a success, the government need to be seen to actively market the new initiative. This is something they have stated to government in their pre-budget submission.
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I spent 13 years in the fragile retail sector and struggled to change my career choice. I chose retail because i had a passion for it but it has proved the wrong choice. I accepted that and after 2 years nearly to the day of being unemployed and 3 months as an intern, the jobs plus scheme has restored my faith that the government can put good policys in place for the long term unemployed. For those of you who have made stupid comments and have obviously not researched the scheme. Whilst there is a benefit to the employer financially, there are a lot of benefits to the emoloyee such as 1.) A job in an industry that you might not of ever worked in through jobsbridge 2) increased tax credits (tiered) for 3 years via jobsplus, which means more cash in your pocket and will help a lot for savings/ debts etc.
Dont get me wrong prior to my internship, I had returned to college but was forced to leave because I had no income after my social welfare had been stopped because I had not qualified for the back to education scheme by 3 months. Even though I was continuing a degree course i had not completed a few year’s earlier and should of qualified via that.
After many attempts to engage with the department and after a face to face meeting with Eamon Gilmore I was brushed aside but luckily an internship was offered to me in an industry I was looking at and after 3 months I am now an employee because of the Jobsplus scheme.
So for you Richard Boyd Barret parrots please be positive
Dave, you obviously have not read how the scheme operates. Its for long term unemployed (2 year) so once you fit the critera it doesn’t matter how long you are unemployed, so no employers would base there decision on hiring on the length of time unemployed to get the tax break(not cash or a lump some) they would obviously select the best candidate.
Again please read up on it.
Also I didn’t say I trusted the government, I said they can produce policies that work…. have a nice day.
Ive read up on it and someone out of work 12 months can qualify but an employer gets paid more over two years if they hire someone over 2 years unemployed. If it helped you out great, hope you sort out those bills ok, but the government has sat back and allowed the Job-bridge criteria to be relaxed and you have to worry they’ll do the same with this.
7500 or 10000 euro’s. So the employer gets more from hiring a scambridge applicant that the employee who gets 50 quid a week or 2600 per year.
WTF!!!!
This does not apply to scam bridge. It applies to full time employment with full time wages.
… Read it again
@ Jonny: They are completely different schemes.
I feel the only downside to this scheme is the people who are not long term unemployed. My father is unemployed 7 months and is desperately trying to seek any type of work. He is loosing out on jobs as they now will hire the long term unemployed. He is also not eligible to apply for the internships as he’s is not unemployed long enough, but yet after 8 months they mean test him to see if he is even still eligible for social welfare. Doesn’t seem fair
I actually think this is a great idea. About time there was more of an incentive to hire the long term unemployed, it’s a win – win.
You know this is going to be exploited by employers somehow but then they’re allowed to because village school teachers tend to be in awe of businessmen.
What else do you “know”? Provide evidence and examples of abuse of this scheme rather than just b1tchy comments about it and putdowns to people helped by it.
Go away FG troll
SLAVE LABOUR!! DISGRACEFUL!! PROTEST!! EXPLOITATION!! HYSTERIA!! YEAH!!
Billy, JobsPlus is a different scheme to Job Bridge. You can find out more info about it here: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Jobs-Plus.aspx
It’s a joke, why should a company get anything? 10000 is a years dole.
I know, Any mention of jobs and bridge means HYSTERIA!!
Correct wrote my answer before seeing yours
Sorry comment referred to Christine’s answer
Billy Nomates
Looks like the only ‘hysteria’ is coming from you. But let’s examine what’s going on with this ‘initiative’.
It’s not at all likely any net +new+ jobs will be created with this scheme. No net ‘stimulus’ or increased spending in the aggregate is involved. (In fact the +opposite+ will be happening in the budget.)
Employers will simply take the €5,000 per year subsidy (for 2 years) as & when they replace employees who leave. This ‘shuffle’ is effectively swapping a longer term dole person for a shorter term one on the live register. It will almost certainly be in the minimum wage, McJobs, sector, where job turnover thru’ employee dissatisfaction is already high, thus such companies are always hiring replacements.
So, effectively, a state subsidy to what are probably the worst employers in terms of wages & working conditions.
All just to massage – the ratio of long to short term numbers on the unemployment register.
Will the owners of these businesses then spend their €10,000 per Jobplus participant back into the economy, so we at least don’t ‘lose’ this money from Ireland?
Well, being in the wealthy top few percent, no where near as likely as if the money were given to far needier citizens to compensate from the losses they’ve had these last few years. Probably some ski resorts or upmarket sunny holiday destinations, or a luxory car maker will benefit.
Of course, given that the country is governed by their fellow top few percent club members in politics & administration, it’s hardly a surprise who would be the real beneficiaries of what amounts to little more than a propaganda numbers game.
But while the Euro shared currency system is a dysfunctional disaster for the majority of ordinary citizens, in either decreasing wages & standards of living, if not actually jobless & in poverty, it works just fine for the top few percent in all the member countries. So its failures, in precisely the way authorities were warned before its introduction (by non mainstream economists) are being barely acknowledged, 5 years after the crash & still with mass unemployment, never mind actually being addressed.
‘Democracy’, as in acting in the interests of the majority, clearly departed a long time ago.
went over to that JobsPlus site, wheres the jobs? are they up yet? but…. whey hey hey, theres a little search box for the jobs that take you to… internships for €50! AGAIN!
@ Mike: I still argue that working for up to two years is much better socially and mentally for the long term unemployed than sitting at home for that duration. Also you are making a number of assumptions.
Firstly the scheme has not been operating long enough, so there is no evidence yet that there will be significant “shuffling” of the long term unemployed. In relation to jobs for places like McDonalds, individuals themselves apply for the jobs through the JobsPlus site. So if people aren’t interested they should just not apply. But equally, somebody must work in these service positions and there shouldn’t be a snobbishness around them.
Secondly you assume the €10,000 will go directly to the employer. This figure comes out somewhere near the tax the employer would pay on the employee during the first two years, so it could just as easily be used to hire an additional person into the firm. Also you assume the €10,000 will be spent by the employer. It could just as easily be reinvested back in to their business.
@ Iam: You need to check your eligibility on the site first:
@Ryan, that is an argument in fairness, but there’s also the argument that working in a job where you’re being taken advantage of (which is very likely) and help out the gov with their live register figures grates the teeth also.
Schemes like this and job bridge are methods which allow businesses to have cheap labour and has the effect of dropping wages across the board. That’s a reality.
Ryan
Indeed it is better, socially & mentally, for (near) everybody to be working rather than unemployed. However, this scheme does absolutely +nothing+ to reduce total unemployment.
But as there are no net new jobs created – no net additional spending in the +aggregate+ economy to create them – this scheme only prioritises some longer term unemployed over some less so.
Yes, I am making some assumptions about what kinds of employers will be attracted by this scheme – and I stand by those assumptions.
1. To be worthwhile for an employer to take on the admin/paperwork load, it will suit larger employers with a higher turnover of staff & in ‘easy in’ lower skilled sectors. For employers requiring higher skill levels, far higher pay rates & typically far lower staff turnover rates, or very small businesses, I would have thought it obvious the scheme is less attractive to take on someone with less current work experience.
2. It’s not a question of ‘snobbery’ about the low pay/high employee turnover sectors. There’s usually a reason for higher staff turnover rates – poor pay & working conditions. Yet these are the employers who are most suited to participate & be subsidised. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people interested – or desperate enough – regardless. That’s usually the case in situations of involuntary mass unemployment – employers can get away with all sorts of poor employment practice. ‘Zero hours’ contracts for example – probably the most exploitative scam for many decades in a developed country. Maximum flexibility for the employer, minimum wage, or none, with hours notice, for the ‘employee’. We’ll have people begging at the roadside next for a day’s ‘casual’.
I really can’t take seriously your silly comments suggesting an employer might spend the €10,000 on hiring more staff, or ‘investing’ in the business. You obviously have zero idea how businesses work.
If they can increase profits by doing such things they will already be doing them – this scheme will make zero difference to such decisions. And BTW, it’s not a lump sum, but paid monthly.
Your ‘argument’ in fact seems based entirely on the fairytale notion that with an extra €416/month coming in these business owners will make some Damascene conversion to ‘philanthropists’ & hire more people without any indication their sales, or projections suggest they are needed.
Huh? I’ve got a bridge to sell you at a bargain price…one time offer, cash only.. ;)
Your last paragraph underlines your lack of clue about businesses or employers. (I have experience in both.)
I do not +assume+ the €10k goes ‘direct to the employer’ – rather that is what the scheme documents +say+ is what happens. No idea what your gobblegook about tax means?
I did +not+ say the €10,000 would be spent by the employer – or at least not back into the Irish economy, if that is what you meant? The opposite is more likely as it merely adds to the wealth pile of people in the top few percent – typically business owners or shareholders of those employers most likely to participate. If it’s McDonalds – straight out of the country with the rest of their repatriated profits.
Sorry Ryan, you’re either peddling propaganda for the top few percent, or just really, really naive.
And if you think I’m too cynical, please observe properly & carefully the events of these last 6 years, in Ireland & elsewhere. I rest my case.
So then Mike, for all your fine words you still have to resort to personally insulting and patronising me. I didn’t insult you in my post, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t do the same. In actual fact it is not propaganda and I do not consider myself to be naive. I just have a genuine belief that the design of this scheme works and will work for some people who are long term unemployed (like LL CJ above). I have also worked in different companies and for mostly excellent employers who would in no way engage in what you assume they would For someone who was in business, you appear to be very anti-business.
Tell me your alternative scheme to solve long term unemployment then if you deem this policy to be so bad.
300,000 unemployed. 1200 sign up to this scheme. The 298,800 who didn’t sign up should be suspended as they’re not taking every available means to gain employment.
Ya except an awfull lot of people if they get paid under 25k they can’t afford the mortage, what’s wrong is that wages in this country do not equal the costs of living. Everything is expensive, we export 95% of the food we produce, yet we are the most expensive at retail to buy even the basic’s.
you can be sure those taking on the cheap employees can afford their homes, swanning around in their mercs and convertibles, while robbing the pay packets just like their buddies FG. Making poor mouths the lot of them. Many of them used the pay cut ala recession but… didnt cut the hours, surely thats illegal? It can only be one or the other, not both plus the employee can decide to accept or not and have the contract re-written. If times are/were bad, business down and you couldnt afford to pay them then surely hours would be cut too because business is down? Doesn’t make sense to me, cos its lies! Found out there. working 40 hour week, cos theyre flat out but cutting the pay cos ‘they’re not flat out’? wheres the logic? theres none, its BS.
Paramendes – 300,000 unemployed?
They all won’t qualify for such a scheme or they may be in other schemes. I’m waiting to hear about a springboard course for example.
Unrelated but I just have to share this. Was in restaurant having tea killing some time before a drivin lesson. Two women beside me now I was reading the paper but couldn’t help hear what she said. She said after this now im going down to council or social get them to buy me a george foreman. Wtf? Does this happen? Sittin on her ass havin a full irish and prob laughing at everyone else. Uhhhhhhhhhhh.
Gee qiz I love hearing an old anecdotal tale of the “scroungers on the dole like, sur they get everything and here’s me workin’ away like and thems getting George Foreman grills and sure they should be out on their ears like!”
Answer to you question: Does this happen? No, it doesn’t. Anyone with any jot of common sense would immediately know that it doesn’t. It’s not like you walk into the f-in welfare office and they have a stack of grills and stuff. Maybe she meant that she’s going to buy one with her dole. And so what, she’s contributing to aggregate demand and circulating some money in the economy so God bless her I say. Or maybe she was joking? Or maybe one of the million other things that sentence could entail.
I hate people like you.
Thats ur opinion. I stated mine. We are all entitled to an opinion. Some people don’t want a job they are just lazy. Not all.. some.. ;))
I don’t understand how people can possibly be negative about this? On this scheme you get 40 hours a week, a full working wage and off the live register? The only type of person that could complain about this is someone who doesn’t want a job and continue to sponge off the government. This incentive is fantastic and we should be lucky out government is supporting people on the live register. Jobs aren’t exactly plentiful these days so some people need to get off their back ends and look for a solution. I’m currently on work experience and it’s fantastic where I work. Don’t mean to paint everyone on the live register with the same brush here but fact of the matter is there is no reason to complain about this scheme because there is nothing but positives in this and frankly some people are just too lazy to work lately.
“nothing but positives in this and frankly some people are just too lazy to work lately.”
Someone on an internship who is probably more right for the position than the long term unemployed possibly? Is it fair to them?
Is it fair to hand 10000 to a company when so many people struggle?
How many peoples taxes equate to that 10000?
Why doesn’t the government pay the unemployed person to do something for 10000?
Or say to an long term unemployed person we’ll give you an extra 10000 if you get a job and hold it for 2-3 years? Rather than handing it over to a company, many of which will already be making money, in some cases a lot. Internships an example of this exploitation.
“I don’t understand how people can possibly be negative about this?”
@ Simon: You clearly haven’t been reading the Journal very long. On an article stating that 50,000 jobs were created today by the Government, somebody would still pipe up and complain that there weren’t 51,000 jobs created.
@ Aidan: Looking at it another way, the €10,000 is basically the tax the employer would pay on the employee for the first two years of their employment.
Idiotic comment. Well done.
Oh ok Ryan – we’ll stop looking at it as a gift to the employer then.
Instead we should look at it as an extra employee at no extra cost….
There might be plenty of pesimistic comments on thejournal but I fear this time some skepticism is required and you need to take off the rose tinted glasses.
Call it idiotic if you like. But by failing to counteract it you are looking like an idiot.
@ Tony: The employer has to pay the employee for two years to receive the €10,000. The employee must be employed full time. Thus there is no free labour.
As for rose tinted glasses, I used to wear glasses for short sightedness, but had laser eye surgery so don’t need to any more. And I just happen to have read up on the scheme first rather than just joining in with the ill-informed comments that dominate here!
And the way you’ve written it suggests that they don’t get the 10K until the end of the 2 years.
The employer gets the payment on a monthly basis over the time the employee is with the business.
So every month, the government is going to give money to employers who make the live register figures look better and in the meantime, the effect will add to a race to the bottom situation.
There may very well be a good number of people who get jobs from this but IMO the negatives outweigh the positives – these are not going to be real jobs that are created.
I’ll stick to extortion
“The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said that if the JobPlus scheme is going to be a success, the government need to be seen to actively market the new initiative. This is something they have stated to government in their pre-budget submission.”
I agree with this definitely.
Is it true that the employees get increased tax credits in the Initial stages also?
have your say