back
   
Spain
FIJA Plan.
  Introduction:

The Plan for Youth’s training and insertion of Aragon (Plan FIJA) is a pioneer initiative at a national level. It started in 1999 through a collaboration agreement signed by the Government of Aragon and the social agents. The general co-ordination of the Project is carried out by the Employers’ Confederation of Aragon (CREA), being the rest of the social agents participant entities in the plan development.

  Description of the problem:

At October 2002 the unemployment data in Aragon were giving us a number of 6,89% of unemployment from the active population, being the unemployment in Spain 8,71%. The unemployment among the under- 25 rises in Aragon until 12,31%.

The FIJA Plan is born with the aim of supporting the labour integration of youth with low qualification and labour market exclusion risk, at the same time that facilitates to the companies human resources with a training fitted to the work post; the FIJA plan pretends to contribute to the increase of the employment in such a collective, reducing in this way the socio-labour exclusion risks through the professional qualification according to the labour market needs in Aragon.

This plan is not addressed exclusively to the immigrant population, but it’s directed to a very specific collective that are non qualified young people between 16 and 21 years.

About 11% of the immigrants in Aragon is between 16 and 21 years old, and a high percentage of youth that access the plan FIJA are immigrants –specially from Magreb - and gypsy ethnic group.
  Description of the solution:

The FIJA Plan promotes the contracting of youth between 16 and 21 years old with low qualification through a contract for training, that establishes a 80% of the working day of effective work at the post, and a 20% of the working day booked for the training in the profession of the young apprentice. In this way a dual system of work-training is set up based on a labour relationship, and on a paid job for young people.

The Plan also offers the youth advice when needed to choose their future profession into the wide offer of the same Plan. Thus each apprentice has assigned a tutor that will support him/her in the possible doubts or difficulties that appear both in the company and in the training.
  Impact and results:

During the year 2001, the FIJA Plan has achieved the sum of 555 young people contracted for training by 243 Aragoneese companies. The most frequent occupations have been: welders (83 youth); Salesmen/women of food products (69 youth); Salesmen/women of commerce (66 youths); Waiters / cooks (45 youths); Carpenters (42 youths).

A total of 215 young people among the 555 contracted have finalised their contract for training within the same company, giving us the following results:
· The 66% of the young people that have finished their training contract have accessed to a more stable contract in the same job for which they have been trained.
· The 18% have accessed, in less than two months after finishing their contract, to a job in a different sort of occupation.
· The other 16% haven’t accessed after the training contract to the labour market, because of their wish of continuing the vocational training or by other familiar circumstances.

 

 
  Practical considerations :

The cost for the firm per each apprentice is the 80% of the Minimum Salary or that one established by the corresponding Collective Agreement plus the Social security.

This Plan is managed by 9 people that carry out different actions: attraction of companies to the plan, awareness raising of non qualified young people, advise in order that each youth can identify the most adequate profession for himself/herself, individualised tutorships etc.
The Plan also needs the work of trainers.

IF YOU WISH ANY FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT TO:

Confederación de Empresarios de Aragón (CREA).
Juan Carlos Dehesa.

Avd. Ranillas, 16.
50015 Zaragoza
Tels. 976 46 00 66
Fax. 34 976 32 75 08
fija@crea.es