The "la Caixa" Foundation and the European Social Fund earmark 2.4 million more to promote youth employment

The "la Caixa" Foundation is launching the third call for applications for the Youth Employment initiative, co-financed by the organisation and the European Social Fund, with the aim of making it easier for companies to create jobs for young people. 

With an investment of 2.4 million euros, the initiative, whose call for applications opened on February 24, aims to promote young, stable and quality employment through direct aid to companies, including self-employed entrepreneurs, associations, foundations and other non-profit organisations, for the recruitment of unemployed young people between 16 and 29 years of age registered in the National Youth Guarantee. 

The ultimate aim of the "la Caixa" Foundation's Youth Employment initiative is to contribute to the reduction of unemployment among young people, in turn boosting business activity and economic growth. 

So far, in the two previous calls for applications, the "la Caixa" Foundation has helped 2,805 young people to find work within the framework of the programme thanks to the collaboration of 1,829 interested companies and their incentives for youth employment. Seventy percent of these job placements have been permanent and 80% of the contracts have been in companies with fewer than 50 employees.

"The new international crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic is once again punishing a group that was already suffering from high unemployment rates. Faced with this reality, the Youth Employment programme aims to help companies and thus contribute to economic development, but also to guarantee a better future for young people", explains the Chairman of the "la Caixa" Foundation, Isidro Fainé. 

Currently, the "la Caixa" Foundation has opened a third call for applications for the programme, whose grants will be available until 15 March 2022. Grants will be awarded to a maximum of ten young people per organisation or company. 

The main requirements to be met by the final recipients of the programme in order to be hired are as follows: 

• To be aged between 16 and 29 (both included) at the time the contract is formalised. 
• To be registered in the National Youth Guarantee before the contract is signed. 

There are two types of eligible contracts: 

• Fixed-term (temporary) contract, with a minimum permanence period of six months and a maximum amount of aid of 4,200 euros. 
• Indefinite-term contract, with a minimum duration of six months and extendable to two successive periods of three months each, up to a maximum of twelve months and a total grant of 9,600 euros. 

Applications can be submitted on the following website: empleojoven.fundacionlacaixa.org.

This programme joins the different initiatives promoted by the "la Caixa" Foundation to fight unemployment. Since it was set up fourteen years ago, the "Incorpora programme" for socio-occupational integration has provided more than 270,000 jobs for people in vulnerable situations, such as people with disabilities, young people at risk of exclusion, the over 45s, victims of gender violence, the long-term unemployed and ex-prisoners, among others. 

On the other hand, the European Social Fund is the main financial instrument for fostering employment among EU partners and promoting greater economic and social cohesion within the countries of the Union. 

In addition to Youth Employment, the entity also develops Más Empleo (The More Employment programme) in collaboration with the European Social Fund. Its aim is to promote projects that favour the integration into the labour market of people in vulnerable situations through integrated and personalised itineraries that facilitate their incorporation into the labour market.