The persons registered as unemployed will benefit from vouchers for vocational education. This will enable them to independently choose service providers from among the list of accredited providers. This is stipulated in a bill that was endorsed by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The vouchers replace the public procurement procedures for contracting providers of professional development services, IPN reports.

“The National Employment Agency’s data show that 60% of the unemployed persons do not have a profession. At the same time, the employers invoke the shortage of staff with professional skills adjusted to their needs,” stated Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spatari. According to him, the bill is designed to help the citizens to acquire a profession and get a job, while the employers to benefit from qualified staff.

The vouchers will be provided by the National Employment Agency and will be used by unemployed persons to enroll in qualification, re-qualification and continuous training courses. They will be equal in value to the cost of the professional development course that will be taxed according to the general rules for training service providers and will not be taxed for the unemployed.

In 2021, 37,000 persons registered as unemployed with the National Employment Agency and over 66% of these didn’t have a profession. The professional development courses involved only 886 persons, which is 2.4% of the total number of registered jobless persons.