“This program is an opportunity for young people to find work and stand on their own two feet without depending on benefits,” Sofia Zaharakis told the “Newsroom” show, adding that beneficiaries will be able to attend 80 hours of retraining , for which 400 euros will be paid. According to Ms. Zaharaki, their insurance contributions will be covered during the training, while they will have the opportunity to work with a subsidy that can reach up to 100% of the salary.
Talking about the program which is a comprehensive intervention aimed at the labor and social reintegration of unemployed people, registered in the Digital Register of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who belong to all categories of beneficiaries of the Minimum Guaranteed Income (EEI), i.e. single-person households , multi-person households and homeless people Ms. Zaharaki explained that the maximum amount of the grant amounts to 13,416 euros for 12 months and the salary and non-salary costs will also be subsidized.
The program, as the minister said, will develop in two stages: The first concerns the upgrading of skills and retraining through continuing professional training programs as well as their mandatory certification. The training will last 80 hours and will cover high-demand sectors such as office workers and salespeople. The amount of the training subsidy (educational allowance) for the total of 80 hours amounts to 400 euros.
In the second stage, it concerns the recruitment of beneficiaries who complete the training program and receive certification.
“The success of this program depends on our ability to train participants and connect them with businesses,” he stressed. In addition, he referred to the multiple benefits of the initiative”, stressing that participants will be able to become financially independent, reducing their dependence on benefits, employers will be able to hire young people in the hope that they will stay on the job if they prove their worth and DYPA’s job counselors will help participants choose the appropriate training programs.
“With such programs you can also get him out of this poverty trap that the allowance often creates so that you don’t have the disincentive to work” noted Ms. Zaharaki.
“We aim to provide holistic solutions to combat unemployment and poverty, while providing support to those in need,” the minister emphasized.
Ms. Zaharaki did not fail to mention the policies for dealing with the housing problem. “We are creating partnerships with municipalities to make use of unused properties, offering subsidized rents for young people and vulnerable groups,” he said. Through this initiative, young people receiving the minimum guaranteed income will be able to live in state-subsidized rents for three years.
“This week we are inviting the owners from the Municipality of Levadea and during the week we are also inviting owners from the wider metropolitan area of Thessaloniki”, added Ms. Zacharaki.
At the same time, as he said, “we are already running with Thessaloniki a program of reconstruction and renovation of apartments that belong to the Municipality or belong to the state or belong to institutions” which will be renovated within the year. “We are giving 700,000 euros as a ministry, through the Recovery Fund, and our fellow citizens, who are in vulnerable social groups, will be hosted there again,” he added.
“The government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after many years in which there was an absence of what I would call state interventions in housing policy, has since 2019 and now with a renewed housing strategy, approximately allocated and will allocate until 2027, five billion for the housing” noted the minister.
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