The Convention of the First Job for Young People - (La convention de premier emploi aux jeunes) - Belgium

Source: Federal Government of Belgium

• Objectives
• Eligible Young People
• Employer Obligations
• Form of Convention
• Financial Incentives for the Employers
• Evaluation

Objectives

The purpose of guaranteeing the first job is to offer to the young people, as soon as possible, either a job, a job and a vocational training, or a traineeship.

This ambition is to allow the young people:

• to avoid registration as unemploymed;
• to improve their academic education by an occupational qualification essential for their continuous participation in the labour market.

In order to fully address the specific difficulties of certain young people, the youth-employment plan was the subject of a cooperation agreement with the regions. This agreement relates to regional and municipal initiatives on placement and vocational training for the benefit of the young people lacking a diploma of higher secondary education.

Eligible Young People

Starting from the 1 April 2000, all the young people, qualified (diploma of higher secondary education, superior education or university) or not qualified, (who do not have a certificate or diploma of higher secondary education), provided that they belong to one of the following three categories:

1. Young people of less than 25 years in the six months which follow the end of their studies or the end of a course of insertion, provided that they are no longer subject to any compulsory education (18 years);
2. Young applicants for work of less than 25 years;
3. Young applicants for work of less than 30 years

Priority is given to young people from category A. An employer may engage young people belonging to categories B. and C in case of a shortage of young people of category A (and then B.) in the sub-region concerned. The subregional employment commissions (representing the social partners) play a key role in the decision to move on to the categories B or C.

Employer Obligations

A private employer employing at least 50 workers (physical units), must employ new young workers equivalent to 3% of the total manpower (full-time equivalents on 30 June of the previous year, new workers not included). Additional jobs must be created to these young poeple. Their placement cannot be compensated by the dismissal of personnel.

If the employer does not engage the required percentage of young people (3% of the total manpower), he must pay a daily compensation of BEF 3,000 for each missing young person until the obligatory number of young persons has been engaged.

The individual obligation of an employer was not extended to companies occupying less than 50 people. The government hopes however that these employers will engage young people on a voluntary basis and that the large companies will engage of young people above the quota of 3%; the reduction of charges will contribute to this.

The regulation also stipulates that the private sector as a whole must collectively engage a number of young people which corresponds to 4% of the effective manpower of companies with more than 50 workers. Thus the SMEs intervene jointly to help the companies of more than 50 workers to reach the employment of 4%.

Enterprises that have concluded a collective labour agreement, where 0.15% is set aside for the benefit of risk groups or of persons for whom a support plan exists, can also apply for exemption. In addition,

Enterprises experiencing difficulties can be exempted from this obligation by the Ministry of Employment and Labour. The enterprises also have the possibility of concluding agreements with the Ministry of Employment and Labour which exempt them completely or partially from the obligation if they create new jobs for young persons who are under the age of 30 and if they employ these persons on open-ended employment contracts. Also those companies that have concluded a collective labour agreement including a reasonable effort to employ young people may also profit from an exemption.

With the exception of the education sector, the public employers as well as the private employers of the non-profit sector must employ new workers at a rate of 1.5% of their manpower.

Form of Convention

A convention of a first job can be:

• A contract of full-time or part-time employment of at least a half-time, of limited or unlimited duration of which the first year constitutes the convention of a first job;
• A contract of part-time employment of at least half-time, supplemented by training. Duration of one to two years, three years when the initial training lasts three years;
• An apprenticeship contract of the employee's trade, an apprenticeship contract of the middle class, a contract of traineeship organised for the training of the middle class or a convention of professional insertion. Duration: from a one year minimum to two years, three years when the initial formation lasts three years.

Moreover, in collaboration with the regions, vocational trainings or the individual support programme will be proposed to young people of less than 25 years:

• who have left school less than three months previously;
• entering at most their third month of inscription as an applicant for work
• without a diploma of higher secondary education.

In the private sector, including the non-commercial sector, the new workers employed within the framework of an employment contract have the right to a remuneration equal to that which a normal worker in the same position can claim in accordance with wage indices applicable to the company. In the event of part-time work, remuneration is proportional to the duration of the work. If the new worker is engaged by a contract of employment at half-time for at least 12 months, the employer can devote to the training of this new worker an amount equal to 10% of his or her remuneration. In this case, the worker is entitled to 90% of his or her normal remuneration; it cannot however be lower than the minimum monthly income.

In the public sector, a new worker employed within the framework of a contract of employment is entitled to a remuneration equal to that of a member of the personnel possessing similar qualifications. In the event of part-time work, remuneration is proportional to the duration of the work. The employer may also decide to devote to the training of this new worker an amount equal to 10% of his or her remuneration.

Financial Incentives for the Employers

For each young person with few qualifications (without a diploma of higher secondary education) employed through a convention of a first job consisting of a contract of employment, the employer gains the right to reduce a flat-rate amount of BEF 20,000 per quarter on the total social security contributions, provided that at least 3% of the employees are applicable young persons.

Above the engagement of 3% of young people, the employer benefits of a quarterly reduction of BEF 45,000 for the recruiting of each additional little qualified young person.

If the employer employs on a voluntary basis 5% or more young people, it benefits for every employed little qualified young person of a reduction of BEF 45,000 per quarter. These reductions also apply to the employers who do not have the obligation but voluntarily employ young people from the target group.

The public or private employer that keeps under a contract of employment a young person after the end of the convention of a first job, will be able to profit from the reductions of charges granted for the recruiting of the long-term unemployed.

In practice this means that:

• After a convention of a first job of at least 12 months, a reduction of 75% of the charges during the first four quarters and of 50% during the four following quarters;
• After a convention of a first job of at least 24 months, a reduction of 100% of the charges during the first four quarters and of 75% during the four following quarters.

Moreover, the employers keeping under a written contract of employment of unlimited duration a new worker after the end of a convention of a first job, benefit from a reduction of 10% of the employer's social security contributions. This reduction is granted during the year following the convention of a first job.

Evaluation

Concerning the public sector, the number of created jobs was fixed. Thus the federal State and the publicly-owned establishments which depend on it will engage 2,000 new workers. A third of these young people will be employed in the federal administrations, particularly for the reception and information activities. Another third will be primarily employed in specific federal programs such as the decoration of railway stations, the maintenance of parks, the sorting of of waste for recycling in the administrations and the publicly-owned establishments of the federal State, etc. A last third will be employed in initiatives which the federal State will develop in synergy with the regions and the local authorities. These initiatives involve the fight against school violence, the safety of the way to school, the accompaniment of old people, young people or the handicapped, public cleanliness...

The regional and local authorities also have an obligation of recruiting; the number of jobs to be created by the regional federate entities is 855 on the whole. In Flanders, the young people will be employed on the one hand in the Flemish administration and on the other hand with special educational projects and in the framework of the policy of the large cities. Public employment to be created in Wallonia aim at the improvement of the quality of life while stressing the assistance of the most deprived and the care of children. The region of Bruxelles-Capitale will assign these young people to the orientation and information of the public in the administration. Additionally, the young people will be put at work within the framework of three specific projects: urban stewards, the promotion of environmental and public cleanliness matters, and the social cohesion in the large housing blocks. In the German-speaking Community, the young people will be trained to carry out activities related to the maintenance of the infrastructure.

Outside the jobs created by the public authorities, the success of the plan for a first job depend largely on the companies involved in the first jobs programme. Indeed, it is very likely that a company engages above its obligations and that the SMEs, which do not have these obligations, engage young people on a voluntary basis. If the individual and collective obligations are respected by the private companies, the number of jobs created is potentially at 45,000 (in full time equivalents).

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