To overcome the slowing economy in the Province, the government of New Brunswick continues to provide incentive measures for financing salaries. Spotlight on the Employer Wage Incentive.
New Brunswick is still experiencing a slowdown in the labour market. Even though there were 2,700 additional workers in January, the number of job seekers increased by 0.5 percentage points to reach an unemployment rate of 11.3%. The decline in employment then rose to 1.4% compared to January 2012 according to Statistics Canada.
In this context the government of New Brunswick is continuing to offer solutions to companies to attract and retain candidates, with its Workforce Expansion program. It’s time for young graduates to be the subject of an incentive. According to Danny Soucy, Minister of Post-secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL), “A post-secondary educated workforce is the key to attracting industries and investment to our province.” The final component of the program, the Employer Wage Incentive lets employers benefit from a partial reimbursement (up to 70%) of the salary to be paid to a future employee. It is a way to facilitate access to jobs for young graduates and allow them to acquire lasting experience.
An incentive with multiple conditions
Companies and future employees must comply with a series of criteria to be able to submit an application to the PETL. The employee must first of all be hired under a full-time indeterminate period contract for the employer to be able to collect salary reimbursements. Also, the hourly wage must be at least $14 and the number of hours worked per week must be between 30 and 40 hours. The duration of the incentive is limited to a maximum of 24 weeks.
Employers in all sectors can make an application, with the exception of those in the public sector. Candidates must reside in New Brunswick or have plans to settle there. For more information on the specific conditions and priority audiences: Government of New Brunswick website.