Renzi announces job-hire breaks for South

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday that southern Italy will next year benefit from breaks in social-security contributions for newly hired workers like those that accompanied the first year of his government's Jobs Act labour reform. "The companies that decide to employ people in the south will have the total suspension of contributions like in the first year of the Jobs Act," Renzi said in Caltanissetta. He said the government had set aside 730 million euros for this measure.
   Labor Minister Giuliano Poletti said the suspension of mandatory employer social security payments on behalf of newly hired staff in the South are only applicable to jobs going to the young and the unemployed. Benefit payments worth up to 8,060 euros will be suspended for a year for employers in the South who hire or take on interns aged 15-24, or who hire people who have been in the workforce at least 24 years who have been unemployed at least six months. "Reducing youth unemployment, especially in the South, is a government priority," the labor minister explained.
Government will "ensure the measure will be operational by January".
"If the European Union refinances the Youth Guarantee programme, as we hope it will, we intend to extend it to those who hire youth who are signed up with the programme. across Italy," Poletti said.
The EU Youth Guarantee project aims to provide people aged 15-29 with viable work, study or training opportunities within four months of finishing their studies or becoming unemployed.