Last July 2021, the Generalitat de Catalunya reported on the implementation of a shock plan against unemployment, whose measures to support employment focus on helping the most vulnerable groups – women, young people and people over 52 years – to find work after the Covid-19 crisis.

The Public Employment Service of Catalunya (SOC) has opened two calls for aid to companies, freelancers and associated work cooperatives that seek to promote the hiring of unemployed people under 30 years of age, allocating 125 million euros; Thus, the bonus for hiring the unemployed will benefit a total of 7,000 young people.

The other half of these 125 million (62.5 million euros) will be used to subsidize internship contracts for young people with degrees, while the rest will serve to subsidize employment contracts. In this sense, the SOC will offer companies, freelancers and associated work cooperatives an aid of 17,684 euros for each young person hired full-time for a year.

The requirements to be hired within these programs are to be between 16 and 29 years of age and to be registered in the SOC as an unemployed job seeker. In the case of internship contracts, the requirements demanded by this contractual modality must be met.

As for companies, the number of subsidized contracts may not exceed five or exceed 50% of the contracting entity’s workforce. In cases where a natural or legal person has up to one person contracted, the subsidy may be requested only for one contract.

Companies and freelancers that are interested can submit applications from December 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022 through the “Tràmits” space of the Generalitat’s electronic headquarters, or through the “Canal Empresa”, searching for “Foment de l’ocupació i la contractació del Servei Públic d’Ocupació de Catalunya” in the search engine of procedures.

According to the Generalitat, this investment -with the support of the React EU fund- will benefit more than 25,000 young people through orientation, training and work experience programs, whose goal is to reduce youth unemployment and transform the productive system in Catalonia.

If you need more information, you can contact our Labor Department.