“In the same way Portugal was a pioneer in the discussion and implementation of the Youth Guarantee, we understand how very important it is that we now pioneer the way in discussing long-term unemployment because this certainly represents a serious problem at the European level,” said Mota Soares earlier this week.
The minister then went on to detail some of the measures planned to deal with what is “an economic problem but above all a social problem.”
Portugal, said Mota Soares, is as a result launching two specific programmes targeting the long-term unemployed over the age of 30: Vida Ativa (Active Life) and Reativar (Reactivate).
In terms of the first, Vida Ativa, the minister explained it as providing on site job training for some 20,000 workers through to April with state investment in the region of €30 million.
Reativar, in turn with greater benefits for workers over the age of 45, provides for professional internships for the long term unemployed with 12,000 people due to benefit over the course of this year at a cost to the state of €43 million.
These internships are available to those registered as unemployed for at least one calendar year and never having participated in such programmes previously.
In turn, they receive a work grant of between €419.22 and €650 depending on their respective qualifications, with the state training institute, the IEFP, meeting between 65 percent and 95 percent of company costs incurred with the internship depending on the respective circumstances.