Skopje, 3 March 2014 (MIA) –

Those employers in the private sector who will hire people under the age of 29, registered as unemployed individuals in the Employment Agency, will be exempted from paying social benefits in the first year.

The measure, for which the Parliament has adopted amendments to three laws, will be in effect for two years with a possibility to be extended depending on the achieved results. The target group includes all young jobless persons below the age of 29 years.

Under the new measure, the employer will be exempt from paying fees for pension and invalid insurance, health insurance and insurance in case of being laid off for full-time employment, Minister of Labour and Social Policy Dime Spasov told a press conference on Monday.

"The exemption from social benefits will be in effect for a period of 12 months with the employer being obliged to keep the job of a person for additional 12 months. The exemption refers to the base salary to which social benefits are paid i.e. the base of an average gross salary from the previous year," he elaborated.

In addition to being exempt from social benefits, Spasov said, the employer will be also exempt from paying personal income tax, which has been already regulated by a law. "The employer aside from being exempted from paying personal tax for hiring young people aged under 29 years, s/he will be additionally exempted from paying social benefits for employing people below the age of 29 in a 12-month period."

"The legal amendments systematically stimulate the employment of young people on one hand, and on the other by the employers it is seen as an alleviation and support because the state is cutting down the costs for hiring staff i.e. exempting them from costs that could be used for business development," Minister Spasov concluded.