A £40m funding package to help anyone in Wales find work, set up a new business or access training and education, has been revealed by the Welsh Government.
With fears of a long-term economic downturn as a result of the pandemic, with unemployment rising and expected to increase when the 海角视频 Government Job Retention Scheme is wound down in October, the Welsh Government said the new fund was part of its long-term plan to help the economy recover.
It follows a £50m package for skills and learning targeted towards higher and further education unveiled by Education Minister Kirsty Williams last week.
At the heart of the new funding is a pledge that everyone over 16 will receive the assistance they need to access advice and support to find work or to pursue self-employment or to find and take up a place in education or training.
More support for apprenticeships will be available, together with traineeships, redundancy assistance, retraining programmes and careers advice.
More than £8m will be used to create new degree apprenticeships in digital and advanced manufacturing.
The funding sits alongside the Welsh Government's £1.7bn support for businesses in grants and business rates holidays. Within this sits its £500m Economic Resilience Fund that include a now fully invested £100m Covid loan scheme for SMEs through the Development Bank of Wales.
Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said: "Coronavirus threatens to severely affect all the progress we’ve made in reducing unemployment and economic inactivity in Wales over the last decade.
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“This £40m investment in jobs and skills will be vital in helping soften the impact of the pandemic and will be key to driving our economic recovery.
“As we work to recover from the impact of pandemic, we want to ensure our economy emerges stronger, fairer, greener, more agile and more productive than before. Ultimately we want to build back better – for this to happen, people and businesses need support to face the challenges and pressures coronavirus has placed on them.”
The package will include:
More than £20m to incentivise employers to recruit and retain 5,000 apprentices, increase the capacity of traineeship programmes and support more graduates to access work experience, work tasters and paid work placements.
Almost £9m to help workers access retraining and find new employment, including in areas of skills demand, through ReACT and the Union Learning Fund. This includes the national roll-out of the personal learning accounts programme so an additional 2,000 people can learn new skills and gain new qualifications.
Funding for traineeships, Working Wales and Communities for Work Plus will be increased to help match people to job opportunities and promote self-employment and new ways of working, as well as funding to support employer-led training through the Flexible Skills programme.
There will be support for a new Barriers Fund, offering up to £2,000 to support people who may not have previously considered self-employment, in particular women, young people, people from BAME communities and disabled people.
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The National Training Federation for Wales, which represents more than 70 work-based learning providers, welcomed the latest fund from the Welsh Government.
Its director of operations, Jeff Protheroe, said: "The additional funding will make a significant impact on those employers and individuals accessing the support.
“Wales already has in place some great programmes to support employability and skills including apprenticeships, traineeships and Jobs Growth Wales, all of which are delivered through our network of high quality providers.
“What has been put forward today will ensure that there is not only a safety net for all those individuals at risk, but also a springboard for those who wish to secure a better future, as part of Wales' wider economic recovery plan."
David Hagendyk director of Learning and Work Institute Cymru, said: "This is a welcome and comprehensive support package to help people find work and to weather the economic impact of the pandemic.
" It is though just an important first step and needs to be part of a long term commitment to help rebuild our economy. In particular the commitment to extending access to advice and guidance, rolling out the Personal Learning Account programme to help people retrain for new careers, and support that recognises the challenge facing young people are very welcome.
"However, it is vital that the support goes hand in hand with investment in job creation and personalised support for specific groups that we know are being hardest hit, including women and those with the fewest qualifications.
"There is now investment coming from both ends of the M4 but now more than ever we need both the Welsh and 海角视频 Governments to work together and to maximise the impact of different employment support programmes. To be effective there will need to be genuine on the ground co-ordination so that people can quickly get the help they need."