Cypriot state schemes for the jobless

The five incentive schemes the Cypriot Ministry of Labor, Welfare and Social Insurance has introduced for hiring unemployed people attracted great interest as 1,319 applications had been submitted by potential employees January 17, an indication that the target set for 1,450 applications would be met.

At the same time, more than 3,000 asylum seekers’ employment contracts have already been approved.

The Ministry’s Labor Department Director Alexandros Alexandrou said applications for the five schemes, with a total budget of €14.5 million, are still being accept from unemployed people. He said the goal was the employment of 1,450 people registered with the Labor Department’s Public Employment Service.

“We had received 1,319 applications by January 17,” Alexandrou said, adding that they can accept around another 150 applications.

Once the goal of the employment of approximately 1,450 unemployed is reached, it will be up to Minister of Labor Zeta Emilianidou to decide if the effort will continue, he added.

Alexandrou also said that the target of the scheme for the employment of former prisoners was 200 people “but so far we have received only 32 applications.”