site.btaSocial Affairs Ministry Draws Up Pre-retirement Employment Programme

Social Affairs Ministry Draws Up Pre-retirement Employment  Programme

Sofia, August 4 (BTA) - The Labour and Social Policy Ministry is drawing up a pre-retirement employment programme, Minister Ivailo Kalfin said on Tuesday. He was meeting with staff of the Ministry's units in Razgrad Region.

The aim is to make an effective programme and include as many people aged over 50 as possible in the labour market, Kalfin said. He called for proposals raising the effectiveness of the programme. It will be implemented throughout the country and will take regional specifics into account.

The existing programme is ineffective and a mere 29 people have joined it, while there are 126,000 unemployed people over 50. The new programme will not concentrate in the public sector only as it does now. It will not be fully subsidized by the State as employers will be asked to co-finance it. Consultations are under way to choose the right model and the programme will be drawn up by the year's end.

Kalfin was interested in the youth programmes in Razgrad Region, which is one of the regions with record low youth unemployment. The problem is the active inclusion of unmotivated young people in the labour market. The regional job centre is working to find young people who do not work or study and to register them with the job centres which will offer them jobs or vocational training, the Ministry said.