PRSI Scheme to Create Jobs
Under the Government’s latest job creation initiative €36 million will be made available to businesses that create jobs.
Under a new Government initiative, an employer who creates new jobs for people who have been out of work for 6 months or more will be fully exempt from PRSI liability for the first year of that employment.
The scheme will save an employer in the region of €3,000 from the annual cost of employing an additional worker.
The Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme will help to create jobs and help to get people who have lost their jobs back to work.
The scheme, which will be open to applications in relation to any job created in 2010, is being specifically targeted at people who have been out of work for 6 months or more because evidence suggests that that after 6 months on the Live Register there is a danger that people will drift into long-term unemployment.
An employer will not have to pay PRSI for 12 months from the time an application is approved.
There are a number of safeguards built into the scheme to ensure that it has maximum impact and prevents any abuse:
The job must be full-time and must be new and be additional: employers will not be allowed to substitute existing employees to avail of the scheme.
The job must last for six months or more. If it does not the PRSI exempt amounts will have to be repaid by the employer.
The employer will be required to furnish an up-to-date Tax Clearance Certificate.
Employers will be limited to a maximum participation rate of 5% of their existing workforce or, for smaller companies, a maximum of 5 new jobs.
