Secretaria-Geral do Ministério do Trabalho, Solidariedade e Segurança Social

The Government published in the Diário da República the reinforcement of two active employment measures to ensure that, in the current pandemic, support reaches more people and promotes the creation of more jobs. The measures Internships ATIVAR.PT and the Incentive ATIVAR.PT translate an increase in financial support for both recipients and promoters.

The ACTIVAR.PT Internships, which replace the Professional Internships, include an increase in the internship grants and value the qualifications. The traineeship grant for a trainee with a bachelor's degree, for example, will increase from €719 to €790. The increase in the scholarship will fluctuate, for candidates with a qualification above secondary level, between 7.1% and 30.6%.

On the other hand, and on a transitional basis (until 30 June 2021), applicants up to 35 years old will be covered (currently they can only be up to 30 years old) and persons over 35 years old will become eligible if they have been unemployed for more than six months (instead of the current 12). The IEFP contribution to the traineeship grant rises from 65% to 75% under the general scheme and the employment bonus, awarded to those who convert traineeship contracts into open-ended contracts, will increase from a maximum of EUR 2,194 to EUR 3,072 under the general scheme.

On the other hand, the Incentive measure ATIVAR.PT replaces the Contract-Employment and provides for a 33% increase in the support to be granted to companies entering into employment contracts with unemployed persons registered with the IEFP – increasing the basic support from EUR 3 949 to EUR 5 266 for contracts of indefinite duration. This includes bonuses for long-term unemployed, discouraged inactive people, young people up to 29 and people aged 45 and over, and also for informal carers or homeless people.

Both measures provide for faster and more agile payments, which will allow financial support to reach the promoters more quickly.

Applications for these measures will open in the coming weeks, with a budget of around EUR 100 million.

These measures are part of the ATIVAR.PT – Enhanced Programme of Support for Employment and Vocational Training, registered by the Government in the Economic and Social Stabilisation Programme, with the aim of ensuring the maintenance of employment and the gradual recovery of economic activity.

For the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, "the reinforcement of these measures will make it possible to strengthen support for hiring workers and increase the values of scholarships for qualified young people seeking to respond to the current situation. It translates our priorities of targeting support towards stable employment with open-ended contracts and valuing young people.”

Consult the support list.

In Government Portal