Applications now open for Social Employment Market "INCLUIR" initiative - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego

Applications are now open for the Social Employment Market (MSE) “INCLUIR” programme. This is a support measure for unemployed people who face greater difficulties in entering the labour market, providing them with the opportunity to take a traineeship in a real work environment.

The programme runs on a tripartite basis between the Regional Government, Private Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS) and Employers, with IPSS and other non-profit organisations, as promoters of the internships, responsible for placing the unemployed people eligible for the "INCLUIR" measure in other regional employers and companies.

Applications are open until December 31 and must be submitted by the promoting entities at the MSE Desk, available at emprego.azores.gov.pt, where the MSE Implementation Guide is also available for consultation.

Traineeships last for 24 months, including two months of rest. They can be either full-time, with a maximum of 35 weekly hours, or part-time, with between 15 and 20 weekly hours, according to the Order issued by the Regional Secretary for Youth, Housing and Employment, Maria João Carreiro, published in the Official Journal.

Interns are awarded a traineeship grant corresponding to 100% of the Regional Minimum Monthly Wage (RMMG) for full-time traineeships, or a traineeship grant proportional to the weekly duration of work based on the RMMG value for part-time internships.

Trainees whose weekly traineeship duration exceeds 17.5 hours per week are entitled to a meal allowance and are covered by the Social Security scheme.

The entities promoting the traineeships, which are responsible for monitoring, assessing and adjusting the process of integrating the unemployed into the entity, are granted monthly financial support corresponding to 23.75% of the traineeship grant awarded per intern for the duration of the traineeship.

Should the intern be hired by the entity where the traineeship was carried out in the month following the end of the programme, the entity promoting the internship will also receive support corresponding to 50% of the total amount of support allocated during the training period.

Companies and employers taking part in the traineeship programme can benefit from the "CONTRATAR SOCIAL" measure to hire trainees at the end of their traineeship period, through which support of up to 26 thousand Euros is granted over four years for each new job created.

Eligible applicants for this new phase of the “INCLUIR” measure, for which 69 projects have been approved for 92 jobs following the first phase of applications, include people with disabilities, homeless people, ex-convicts, domestic violence victims, deportees and people undergoing addiction rehabilitation.

The MSE is the main public governance instrument for promoting the labour market inclusion of unemployed people with vulnerabilities in the labour market.

The MSE regulations had not been revised for over a decade in the Azores.

The new legislation, published in January this year, now provides a more comprehensive and flexible approach tailored to the profile and needs of the unemployed, bringing together public administration, non-profit organisations and employers to promote pathways that favour the labour market inclusion of workers whose unemployment is linked to personal and/or social issues.