Colombia: Youth training programme: 250,000 Plan

A significant part of the unemployed in Colombia are youth. In December 2008 the number of unemployed aged 14 to 26 was 978,000 -almost half of all unemployed. The rate of unemployment among youth is 22% -more than double the adult unemployment rate. This situation elicited a response in the framework of the counter-cyclical policy of the National Government, which is designed to face the economic crisis and strengthen the nation's competitiveness. As a result, the Government proposes to increase job insertion and training with 250,000 new openings intended for young Colombians, a challenge for both the National Learning Service (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje - SENA), the national institution for professional training, and the organizations thus given a chance to embark on new projects and hire competent personnel. SENA began offering the new openings for additional training as of May 2009, allocating for this purpose a budget of approximately US$ 150 million. The policy combines keeping young people in training and fostering job insertion for them as apprentices. One condition to join the programme is that companies wishing to increase the number of apprentices cannot have laid-off personnel for the previous three months. With this plan SENA seeks to reduce the unemployment rate in the 16 to 24 age group by four percentage points, directly impacting the total unemployment rate by close to one percentage point.