national employment office

The Beirut Traders Association (BTA) launched a study entitled "The job market in the commercial sector and in related services in Lebanon", which was undertaken jointly with the National Employment Office (NEO) and the Societe Generale Bank.  The event was held yesterday under the auspices of the Minister of Labor (MoL), Sejaan Azzi.  The President of BTA, Nicolas Chammas, noted that this study came about as a result of continuous consultations with the MoL regarding the urgent corrective measures that need to be taken at the social and economic levels.  He added that all trade companies will be contacted to discuss their current and future vision as well as to assess their needs in human resources so as to match with the supply of university graduates, an in order to introduce young people to existing job opportunities.
For his part, the Minister of Labor used the opportunity for launching the first employment opportunity project and to confirm that the Cabinet will soon adopt this project which will provide 5000 job opportunities for young people. Azzi further noted that some LPB 10 billion will be allocated for this project which will be managed by the NEO.  According to Azzi, the project will target young people who are entering the job market for the first time where the NEO will pay 10% of their salaries during their first year in addition to settling the NSSF contribution due by companies and VAT costs on condition that employers guarantee their continuity of the youth employment.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar 26 November 2014

Within the framework of creating new work opportunities for Lebanese youth, the Youth and Sports Parliamentary Committee, headed by MP Simon Abi Ramia, held yesterday a new meeting to study the report recently prepared by the Ministry of Labor in collaboration with the World Bank, regarding the launching of the Youth First Job project.
The proposed project will aim to train some 2400 young man and woman, under the supervision of the National Employment Office, who will subsequently be hired by private enterprises. According to the project the Lebanese government will provide an incentive to these enterprises by covering their contributions to the social security fund for a period of 2 years, according to the following ratios: 100% during the first year, two thirds during the first half of the second year and one third during the last. In addition, the Lebanese government is expected to pump LBP 10 billions during 5 years, while the WB provides USD 1.2 million in funding for managing of the project.
Following the meeting, Abi Ramia commented the project, pointing out that although it will not resolve the overall unemployment issue in Lebanon, it should be considered a prototype project that will ease the problem. He added by saying that 22 different queries were raised by the participating parliamentarians regarding the project, to which the Ministry of Labor will be responding in time for the next meeting.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar 31 October 2013

The youth and sports parliamentary commission held yesterday a meeting to study the report prepared by Hicham Abu Jawdeh about the role of parliamentary commissions in creating job opportunities to Lebanese youth. The meeting was concluded by the adoption of a work methodology pursuant to the report.
The commission announced that the next meeting will be held on Thursday 24th of October, and will tackle the role of the National Employment Office (NEO), challenges which the office face, and ways develop and reinforce its work, particularly since his office, according to regulations, is responsible for developing public policies concerning the labor market and for creating new job opportunities in Lebanon.
It should be noted that the youth and sports parliamentary commission started working on preparing the above mentioned report, last June, in collaboration with UNDP, and had since organized a number of workshops in collaboration with the Parliament, and with the participation of heads and members of youth organisations. The final report was released last September.
Source: Al-Nahar 11 October 2013