The ATIVAR.PT Incentive - Employment Measure of IEFP (Institute for Employment and Vocational Training) is an initiative aimed at supporting job creation in Portugal, especially for groups in situations of greater vulnerability, such as the long-term unemployed and young people seeking their first job. The measure offers financial incentives to employers who sign open-ended or fixed-term employment contracts, provided certain requirements are met, such as a minimum duration of the contracts.
Unemployed persons registered with the IEFP, in one of the following situations:
- For at least 3 consecutive months.
- Regardless of the registration period, if the person is:
- A young person aged 35 or younger, with a qualification level lower than Level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework;
- A beneficiary of the Social Insertion Income;
- A person with disabilities or impairments;
- A single-parent family member;
- A person whose spouse or cohabiting partner is also unemployed and registered with the IEFP;
- A person who has been placed under a residential care promotion and protection measure;
- A victim of domestic violence;
- A national of a third country, provided they have a permit that allows their residence or stay in Portugal and qualifies them to register as a job seeker;
- A refugee or beneficiary of temporary protection;
- A former prisoner or someone serving or who has served non-custodial judicial sentences or measures, capable of reintegrating into active life;
- A recovering drug addict or alcoholic;
- A person unemployed for the last 12 consecutive months preceding the date of the job offer registration, without any records in social security or any other mandatory social protection regime, neither as an employee nor as a self-employed worker;
- A person who has served in the Armed Forces under Contract Regime, Special Contract Regime, or Volunteer Regime, under the conditions provided in Article 22, no. 2 of Decree-Law No. 76/2018, of October 11;
- A person in a situation of homelessness or in a social integration process defined for this purpose;
- A person who has been recognized as an Informal Caregiver and who has provided care as the main informal caregiver;
- A person who has completed an IEFP-funded internship less than 12 months ago;
- A beneficiary of the Interior More Employment Measure;
- A person aged 45 or older.
Requirements
The requirements for granting the support are:
- The publication and registration of a job offer on the portal, marked with the intention to apply for the +Employment measure (see also "application" below);
- Signing a full-time, open-ended employment contract with an unemployed person registered with the IEFP;
- Not having carried out collective dismissal, dismissal due to job extinction, or dismissal due to unsuitability as provided in Articles 359, 367, and 373 of the Labour Code, in the three months prior to the date of submission of the application;
- The net creation of jobs (*) and maintaining the level of employment achieved through the support for at least 24 months from the first month of the supported contract;
- Providing professional development during the support period;
- Compliance with the provisions regarding the guaranteed minimum monthly wage and, when applicable, the respective collective labour regulation instrument, particularly in determining the salary offered in the contract.
(*) Net job creation is considered to occur when the entity achieves, in the month of registering the job offer and through the supported employment contract, a total number of employees higher than the average number of employees recorded in the 12 months prior to that month.
How to obtain
The application is submitted on the iefponline website using a specific form, after registering a job offer that complies with full-time, open-ended employment contracts, meets the value of the guaranteed minimum monthly wage, and, when applicable, the respective collective labour regulation instrument. The job offer must also explicitly indicate the intention to submit an application for this measure.
Learn more
You can find more information regarding the Employment Measure and the overall IEFP Support Programme in IEFP’s website.
