JobsPlus will provide major incentive for small businesses to create jobs – Barry

Fine Gael Cork East TD and Chair of the Fine Gael Internal Jobs Committee, Tom Barry, has today (Friday) welcomed the inclusion of the JobsPlus initiative in this year’s Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2013, saying it will make it much easier for small businesses to create new jobs. JobsPlus is one of seven Disruptive Reforms included in the APJ 2013, and it will see the Government covering 25% of the cost of hiring someone who is long-term unemployed.

“As a small business owner, I know how difficult it can be to take on even one extra staff member, even if you have the need and the desire to do so. The JobsPlus initiative will make that process much easier, and much more attractive.

“From the employer’s perspective, this scheme means the State will pay €1 of every €4 it costs to recruit someone off the Live Register. This is a major incentive to increase your workforce, even if it just involves taking on one extra person. And from the worker’s perspective, this will open up new job opportunities and increase the chance of securing full time employment.

“The multinational sector here is booming. But it is the small business sector that will always be the lifeblood of the Irish economy. Micro and small business employ over 650,000; so supports to the SME sector are absolutely essential if we want to comprehensively tackle our unemployment problem.

“The APJ 2013 also contains a range of other measures to boost job creation in small businesses. Access to finance remains a key issue, and by the end of this year Government finance schemes worth over €2 billion will be lending to businesses. A single licencing application system is also going to be established, which should save the retail community about €20 million a year.

“Over the next year, Enterprise Ireland will continue its focus on helping small businesses to access lucrative export markets through its Potential Exporters Division. It will also help support over 1,000 companies on management development programmes. A specific element of the plan aims to help Irish businesses to benefit from the presence of large multinationals here by boosting the level of products and services sourced locally. This has the potential to generate up to €500 million in new business.

“The APJ 2013 is an extremely comprehensive document containing 333 actions to be implemented across 16 Government Departments and 46 agencies. Its actions to support business, reduce costs, improve access to finance and target key growth sectors will help both large and small companies here to expand, succeed and create jobs.”

ENDS