PLACEMENTS:AN EXTRA 15,000 places on education, training and work schemes will be created next year as part of Government efforts to help people get back to work and off unemployment benefit.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan also confirmed yesterday that the minimum wage would be reduced by €1 to €7.65. He said workers earning the new minimum rate would remain outside the tax net.
The Government will spend €200 million on the job creation measures, which will involve an expansion of existing private and public work placement and internship schemes. Some 10,000 extra work placements and internships will be provided by the public and private sector through schemes managed by the Department of Education and Skills.
The Department of Social Protection will create an additional 5,000 work opportunities in the community for people who have been unemployed for more than a year under a reformed National Employment Action Plan.
Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said the new work placements would help to reduce the number of people on the Live Register. He said he hoped the new places would become available early in the new year. But he said the 5,000 places on the new community scheme could take longer to establish.
He said there were now about 200,000 work placement or shorter training places available to help unemployed people on the live register get back to work.
He said any jobseekers who refused to engage with the schemes in the new year could face graduated reductions in welfare payments unless they had a good reason for not attending interview or taking up a position.
As expected, the minimum wage is to be reduced by €1 to €7.65 in the new year in an effort to increase competitiveness and create new jobs. However, Mr Lenihan said those on the new reduced minimum wage rate would remain outside the tax net.
Estimates from the earnings, hours and employment costs survey undertaken by the Central Statistics Office indicate that there were approximately 52,000 employees paid at or below the national minimum wage of €8.65 per hour as of the second quarter of 2010. This represented 3.4 per cent of all employees.
Income and health levies are to be replaced by a single universal social charge. The current employee’s Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contribution ceiling is to be abolished, while PRSI for the self-employed and top-earning public servants will be increased.