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OAED plan offers 5-month work stints in local projects
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By Christina Kopsini
A plan drafted by the Manpower Organization (OAED) aims to address the problems of more than 400,000 households with no employed members, offering them jobs for five months on local projects where there are insufficient or no structures for various services. According to the OAED plan drafted upon the request of the Labor Ministry, those who enter the local authorities’ programs will be paid less than what the national collective labor contract provides for. People aged 25 or over will receive 19.60 euros per day with a cap of 490 euros per month. For those under the age of 25, the payment will be 17.10 euros per day, or up to 427 euros per month. However, the program will also cover employers’ and employees’ monthly social security contributions, amounting to 257.20 euros. Those eligible to take part in the program must be European Union citizens who are registered as unemployed with OAED and either belong to a single-parent family or have spouses who are also registered unemployed. Only one household member will be allowed to take part in the program. If two members of the same household apply, they will both be rejected. The projects in which the unemployed will be put to work are the following: * Public benefit projects such as the creation and care of parks and other green spaces, reforestation and protection of areas of great natural beauty, cleaning seaside areas, cleaning and making small anti-flooding interventions in streams, and activity for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage. * Care services for senior citizens, the disabled and children. * Social activities such as grocery stores and medical centers for the jobless, collection and distribution of used apparel, and hostels for the homeless. * Road safety for schoolchildren and food catering at all-day schools in poorer areas. The selection criteria will be the length of time spent without a job, marital status and family income. The time that a person has spent outside the labor market is certified only by OAED’s unemployed register. | 
