€500 million boost for young jobless
Under-25s will be eligible for state aid to help them off unemployment benefit and back into work
YOUNG jobseekers are to benefit from a €500 million scheme to help them move into employment.
Under-25s will be eligible for the Revenu de Solidarité Active (RSA) welfare-to-work scheme if they have worked for two out of the past three years. It gives them extra money on top of their pay to make up for lost unemployment benefits.
President Sarkozy announced the plan in Avignon yesterday in a bid to encourage jobseekers between 18-25 who risk losing money by taking a job and giving up benefits.
Around 160,000 people would be affected at a cost of €250 million. Until now under-25s have been excluded from the RSA.
Mr Sarkozy told opponents of the scheme - many in his own UMP party - that he was still against state support but wanted to make sure young people felt they were valued.
He also revealed details of a plan to get 16-18 year olds into work as soon as they leave school. He said he wanted to cut the number of décrocheurs , the 100,000 young people who have left school without a job or training opportunity.
From the next rentrée , a system will oversee school-leavers and find them training schemes.
The university year is also to be increased to 10 months, and Mr Sarkozy said the bourse supplémentaire aid scheme would be extended to cover this.
