Training Bonus and Social Security Contribution Coverage for Recruiting Unemployed Graduates
5 October 2011
Read by 1567 persons
The state will pay training costs up to 25,000 DH for any permanent contract recruitment under a new professional integration program. Permanent recruitment after an Idmaj contract period will result in one year of social security contributions being covered.
The General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) was finally heard, even if only partially, regarding its 20 proposals for promoting the employment of young graduates, unveiled at the beginning of February. Two of the 20 measures have indeed been implemented, after several months of negotiations with the departments concerned. These two new measures are important because they aim to encourage companies to create stable jobs and correct some shortcomings of the "Idmaj" integration contracts offered within the framework of the National Agency for Employment and Skills (ANAPEC). On Thursday, September 29, an agreement was signed to this effect between the employers and the CGEM.
The first measure is based on the creation of a new type of contract called a "professional integration contract." This contract, which primarily concerns young qualified graduates who are difficult to integrate (unemployment lasting more than 12 months), registered with ANAPEC, consists of reimbursing any company offering this type of graduate a permanent contract (CDI) for the latter's training costs up to 25,000 DH. The training provided to the young person will be managed by the company, according to its needs. The objective, explains Jamal Belahrach, president of the employment commission at the CGEM, is to find a solution to the problem of unemployment among young graduates whose profiles and skills are often unsuited to the needs of companies. The training, which is mandatory and specified contractually, will cover languages, computer skills, or other subjects necessary to refine the candidates' profiles to make them operational. It is now clear that companies overwhelmingly prefer specialized profiles to those from university higher education.
No social coverage for two years?
The second measure involves the state covering social security contributions to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) and the mandatory health insurance (AMO) for one year for young people recruited under Idmaj integration contracts. In fact, the basic idea was for the state to directly pay these social security contributions instead of exempting companies as is currently the case. Except that the state split the difference. During the integration contract (24 months, extended by 12 months if a standard contract is signed), the recruits in question still do not benefit from social coverage; it is only when the company decides to convert the temporary contract into a permanent contract that the state will cover one year of social security contributions. This is undoubtedly a way to encourage lasting employment, but the question can be raised as to why an employee would be deprived of social coverage for a period of up to two years? (See editorial CDD, the original sin?). At the CGEM, they make the best of a bad situation, believing that this is a start but that change must happen as quickly as possible.
A budget of 2.1 billion DH over 5 years
These two new measures should result, according to state estimates, in the permanent recruitment of some 275,000 young graduates over a five-year period. An operation to which a budget of 2.1 billion dirhams will be allocated over the same period. This amounts to a little more than 400 million dirhams per year, which is double the 200 million dirhams in aid granted by the state in the form of exemptions through the "Idmaj" integration contract system managed by ANAPEC. Will these new measures help improve the quality of employment for young people who go through ANAPEC to find their first job? In a way, it is a corrective measure to combat unemployment among young graduates. That being said, despite the criticism it faces, the process of integrating young people into companies, in its various forms, has, year after year, placed around 40,000 young people. Since its launch in 2006, the ANAPEC integration contract has placed more than 172,000 young people in the job market for their first experience, according to the agency's own statistics. It should be recalled that the aim of the program was to offer graduates a first experience and improve, it was said at the time, supervision in companies, particularly in SMEs/SMIs, to make them more competitive. It has since become apparent that the distribution of placements by diploma type mainly benefits graduates of the Office of Vocational Training and Labor Promotion (OFPPT), who account for nearly 40% of those placed, compared to 21% for higher education graduates and 24% for baccalaureate holders. Hence the idea of offering a training bonus.
Lavieeco.com
Published October 5, 2011.
Posted online October 5, 2011.
The General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) was finally heard, even if only partially, regarding its 20 proposals for promoting the employment of young graduates, unveiled at the beginning of February. Two of the 20 measures have indeed been implemented, after several months of negotiations with the departments concerned. These two new measures are important because they aim to encourage companies to create stable jobs and correct some shortcomings of the "Idmaj" integration contracts offered within the framework of the National Agency for Employment and Skills (ANAPEC). On Thursday, September 29, an agreement was signed to this effect between the employers and the CGEM.
The first measure is based on the creation of a new type of contract called a "professional integration contract." This contract, which primarily concerns young qualified graduates who are difficult to integrate (unemployment lasting more than 12 months), registered with ANAPEC, consists of reimbursing any company offering this type of graduate a permanent contract (CDI) for the latter's training costs up to 25,000 DH. The training provided to the young person will be managed by the company, according to its needs. The objective, explains Jamal Belahrach, president of the employment commission at the CGEM, is to find a solution to the problem of unemployment among young graduates whose profiles and skills are often unsuited to the needs of companies. The training, which is mandatory and specified contractually, will cover languages, computer skills, or other subjects necessary to refine the candidates' profiles to make them operational. It is now clear that companies overwhelmingly prefer specialized profiles to those from university higher education.
No social coverage for two years?
The second measure involves the state covering social security contributions to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) and the mandatory health insurance (AMO) for one year for young people recruited under Idmaj integration contracts. In fact, the basic idea was for the state to directly pay these social security contributions instead of exempting companies as is currently the case. Except that the state split the difference. During the integration contract (24 months, extended by 12 months if a standard contract is signed), the recruits in question still do not benefit from social coverage; it is only when the company decides to convert the temporary contract into a permanent contract that the state will cover one year of social security contributions. This is undoubtedly a way to encourage lasting employment, but the question can be raised as to why an employee would be deprived of social coverage for a period of up to two years? (See editorial CDD, the original sin?). At the CGEM, they make the best of a bad situation, believing that this is a start but that change must happen as quickly as possible.
A budget of 2.1 billion DH over 5 years
These two new measures should result, according to state estimates, in the permanent recruitment of some 275,000 young graduates over a five-year period. An operation to which a budget of 2.1 billion dirhams will be allocated over the same period. This amounts to a little more than 400 million dirhams per year, which is double the 200 million dirhams in aid granted by the state in the form of exemptions through the "Idmaj" integration contract system managed by ANAPEC. Will these new measures help improve the quality of employment for young people who go through ANAPEC to find their first job? In a way, it is a corrective measure to combat unemployment among young graduates. That being said, despite the criticism it faces, the process of integrating young people into companies, in its various forms, has, year after year, placed around 40,000 young people. Since its launch in 2006, the ANAPEC integration contract has placed more than 172,000 young people in the job market for their first experience, according to the agency's own statistics. It should be recalled that the aim of the program was to offer graduates a first experience and improve, it was said at the time, supervision in companies, particularly in SMEs/SMIs, to make them more competitive. It has since become apparent that the distribution of placements by diploma type mainly benefits graduates of the Office of Vocational Training and Labor Promotion (OFPPT), who account for nearly 40% of those placed, compared to 21% for higher education graduates and 24% for baccalaureate holders. Hence the idea of offering a training bonus.
Lavieeco.com
Published October 5, 2011.
Posted online October 5, 2011.
