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1. Youth employment measures

2. Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

3. Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

4. Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

5. Quality assurance

Youth employment measures

Youth employment measures

The main policy measures implemented at top-level to foster the access of young job-seekers to employment are offered by the Department of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus. They both offer various schemes to unemployed people of all ages who are facing particular barriers in finding and retaining jobs (low-skilled youth, social protection beneficiaries, unemployed at risk of long-term unemployment).  All the available ongoing schemes can be found at the website of the Department of Labour. Below is a list of the schemes that ran within 2023 and/or are still valid: 

Provision of Incentives for the Employment of Unemployed Youth aged 15 up to 29 years old who are not in employment, education or training -NEETs (offered by the Department of Labour): The Scheme aims to alleviate youth unemployment (aged 15 to 29) years neither in Employment nor in Education or Training (NEETs) and the sustainable integration of young people in the labour market, by placing them in subsidized jobs and further gaining work experience. The Scheme is included in the measures of active employment policy promoted by the Government for the implementation of the "Youth Guarantee".

Provision of Incentives for the Employment of Unemployed (offered by the Department of Labour): The Scheme includes the sponsorship of a part of the salary cost of the person to be hired.

Provision of Incentives for the Employment of People with Disabilities 2021 (offered by the Department of Labour): The Scheme includes the sponsorship to employers in the private sector for the recruitment of unemployed persons with disabilities registered with the PES. This scheme runs between 8/11/2021 until the depletion of the fund or the announcement of the end of the Plan.

Provision of Incentives for the Employment of Young People aged 15 to 29 who are not in Education, Employment, or Training NEETs combined with two-month-period training: The Scheme was announced in 2024, with the aim to alleviate youth unemployment among NEETs aged 15 to 29, through placing them in subsidized employment positions and gaining work experience combined with two- month-period of training .  

Scheme for the Employment and Training of Tertiary Education Graduates (“Σχέδιο Στελέχωσης Επιχειρήσεων με Αποφοίτους Τριτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης”) (offered by HRDA): The scheme aims at strengthening the management capacity of enterprises and organisations through the employment and training of qualified tertiary education graduates under 30 years of age, while helping the smooth integration of graduates into suitable job positions. Young unemployed tertiary education graduates are offered a training subsidy while they receive on the job training for 6 months. The HRDA sets the minimum gross wage of €950 per month paid by the employer to the graduate during the programme. The subsidy is calculated on the basis of the eligible costs of the implemented training programme.

Scheme for the development of New Business activity (“Σχέδιο Ενίσχυσης Νέας Επιχειρηματικής Δραστηριότητας”) The Scheme was announced in May 2021 by the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry. It aims to develop, support and promote the entrepreneurship by focusing on specific target groups, such as young people and women who wish to do business in any economic activity, utilising their knowledge, experience and talents. The scheme included a budget of 30 million euros. Young people aged 18-29 are among the eligible beneficiaries and are entitled up to 70% of funding. 

The ‘ActiveYouth: Youth Guarantee to ACTIVate and Empower YOUTH in Cyprus: an integrated communications campaign’ served as a comprehensive outreach initiative aimed at effectively communicating job opportunities to the youth in Cyprus. The primary objective of the program was to enhance awareness of the Youth Guarantee among young individuals, emphasizing its significance for those who were not registered with their national Youth Guarantee systems. It conveyed the message that registration is a prerequisite for engaging with relevant services and accessing the available opportunities. This initiative was executed by the Youth Board of Cyprus.

Flexicurity measures focusing on young people

There are currently no top-level policies or measures to enhance flexibility and security in the labour market.

Reconciliation of private and working life for young people

The Department of Labour is responsible for the proper implementation and monitoring of the Equal Treatment of men and women in employment and vocational training. The implementation of the legislation and its improvement through the introduction of new laws, and the modification of the existing ones, aim at achieving equal treatment of men and women in the field of work. The recent 2024 amendment to the Maternity Protection Law represents a significant stride forward, extending protections to encompass cases of surrogate maternity. Additionally, the enactment of the Paternity Protection legislation (Law 117(I)/2017) signifies a commitment to fostering a work environment conducive to the harmonization of professional responsibilities with family life. These measures and policies are integral to promoting a more equitable and balanced approach to work-life integration.

Funding of existing schemes/initiatives

Information about the funding of the schemes/initiatives described above (Youth employment measures):

• The budget of the scheme “Provision of Incentives for the Employment of Unemployed Youth aged between 15-29” is 2,5 million euros for the 3rd call that was announced within 2021. The scheme is co-funded by the Youth Employment Initiative and the European Social Funds.
• The budget of the scheme “Provision of Incentives for the Employment of People with Disabilities 2021” is 2 million euros. The Plan may potentially be co-funded by the European Youth Initiative and the European Social Fund (ESF) .
• The total budget of the Scheme for the Employment of Young People aged 15 to 29 who are not in Education, Employment, or Training NEETs combined with two-month-period training amounts to €7 824 000.
• The budget for the scheme “Scheme for the Employment and Training of Tertiary Education Graduates” comes from national funds. For 2024, it is estimated that the annual HRDA Budget for the operation of the Plan will not exceed the amount of €10 000 000.
• The total budget that will be allocated for the needs of the Scheme for the development of New Business activity  amounts to €30 000 000.

Quality assurance

The HRDA ensures the quality of the programmes it subsidies by undertaking controls in the programme approval stage, the programme implementation stage and the payment of subsidy stage. The HRDA also carries out evaluation studies on the effectiveness and impact of its activities. To this end, a comprehensive system evaluating the impact of HRDA on the economy of Cyprus has been set up. Within this system, evaluation studies, which include field and desk research, are conducted by either independent consultants or the HRDA.

In addition, many employment schemes include vocational training. Regarding this, the training programmes are implemented by public and private institutions and enterprises. To be approved they need to adhere to the criteria laid down by the HRDA.

An important development with regard to training providers is the introduction of a system for the assessment and certification of training providers. Through this system, which has been fully implemented as of 1 January 2015, vocational training centres, vocational training facilities and trainers are assessed against specific criteria to ensure that they are eligible for certification. For trainers, the criteria are based on their competence as well as their academic qualifications and their professional experience as trainers.

The HRDA also carries out evaluation studies on the effectiveness and impact of its activities. These evaluations are announced on a specific part of the HRDA’s website. In this context, the HRDA published on December 2022 the study ‘Indicators of Enterprises’ Participation in HRDA´s activities 2015-2021” . The main objective of the study is the analysis of the participation in HRDA´s activities and specifically the number of enterprises which participated and received subsidies, the number of eligible enterprises which paid the Human Resource Development Levy, the subsidies provided to enterprises by the HRDA and the levy paid by enterprises. 

It must be noted that the analysis includes those schemes for which enterprises receive a subsidy for the participation of their employees and does not include all the schemes from which they benefit, such as the schemes providing job placements for the unemployed for the acquisition of work experience. For those schemes, there are specific studies, which will be mentioned later.

Some of the main indicators/criteria mentioned in the study ‘Indicators of Participation in HRDA´s activities’ are:

• The number of enterprises participating in the HRDA’s activities,
• Percentage coverage indicator of enterprises benefiting from HRDA’s activities,
• Coverage Indicators by Economic Sectors,
• Coverage Indicators by Size of Enterprise,
• Coverage Indicators by District.

In addition, regarding evaluation studies conducted for the impact of the ‘scheme for job placement of unemployed young tertiary education graduates for the acquisition of work experience’, some indicators being mentioned are:

• Impact of the scheme on employability (both on broader public and private sector),
• Percentage of participants in the scheme who continue to work in the enterprise/ organisation of their placement,
• The employment status of participants,
• The degree of utilisation of knowledge and skills acquired,
• The degree of improvement of employment prospects,
• The satisfaction of participants in the scheme