Employers to be paid €10k to hire more older workers
Government scheme will help 40,500 people aged over 50 escape the ‘unemployment trap’
EMPLOYERS will be given a €10,000 State-funded cash incentive to hire unemployed people aged over 50 as part of a government initiative aimed at getting middle-aged people back to work.
Unemployment is rapidly falling but middle-aged workers who lost their jobs during the recession are struggling to get back into the workforce and are stuck in the so-called ‘unemployment trap’.
Their age and lack of some more modern skill sets have put them at a disadvantage when competing for jobs with younger workers.
However, the new government initiative will incentivise employers to hire older workers. The most recent Live Register figures showed there are 40,571 people over 50 who are long-term unemployed.
Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty told the Sunday Independent she will give a “cash incentive” to employers who hire long-term unemployed workers over 50 years old.
“I am very aware that some older jobseekers find it difficult to secure employment,” Ms Doherty said. “Building on the success of the scheme, and to help people in this situation find work, I am refocusing Jobsplus and making the higher rate of the Jobsplus employer subsidy of €10,000 available to employers who hire people over 50 years of age who have been unemployed for more than a year.”
Independent Alliance Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran has been the driving force behind the initiative and received a commitment for an incentive in October’s Budget.
Ms Doherty noted Mr Moran’s involvement in the project and said she would implement the scheme by the second half of next year.
The current Jobsplus scheme has created 14,000 positions since 2013 but just 10pc of these jobs were provided to people over 50.
The refocused scheme will now see a greater emphasis on hiring older workers. Employers who hire over-50s will receive a total of €10,000 in monthly payments over the course of two years.
“We believe that adding this incentive will encourage greater recruitment of older long-term unemployed people and will make them more attractive to employers,” Ms Doherty said.
“I look forward to progressing this measure in quarter two of 2018 and indeed to working closely with Minister Moran who has had a longtime and keen interest in supporting those who are over 50 and long-term unemployed.”
The move follows an announcement last week that the compulsory retirement age for public sector workers will increase from 65 to 70 years old. Workers will not be required to work until 70 but they will have the choice to continue working beyond the current retirement age.
There has been disquiet among some public sector workers over retiring at 65 and being forced to wait a year before they can receive their pension.
In these instances, workers have to sign up for jobseekers allowance for a year before they receive their pensions.
The new rules will come into effect next year but they will not apply to frontline workers, including gardai and firefighters who are on fast-track pension schemes and can retire in their 50s on full pensions.