The French prime minister has announced an “innovative” €6.5 million “youth plan” to help young people particularly hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, reports Yahoo! News.
When he first laid out his political roadmap in early July, the newly-appointed prime minister Jean Castex said “fighting unemployment will be our absolute priority over the next 18 months”.
The need to create jobs for youngsters is pressing indeed. As companies lay off staff in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, young people are the first out the door.
They also have an outsized presence in sectors like tourism and hospitality which have suffered greatly due to health and travel restrictions introduced to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, the labour ministry anticipates that as many as 320,000 young people will be registering at job-seeker centres this summer. Youth unemployment, currently running at around 20 percent, could hit 30 percent.
"We’re putting exceptional measures into place because we know that in times of crisis, [young people] are the ones that suffer the most,” Castex said on Thursday.
The plan focuses on encouraging companies to hire youngsters through financial incentives.
Companies hiring someone under the age of 25, between August 2020 and January 2021, will get a €4,000 rebate on its social charges bill.