The Provincial Director of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) in Melilla, Jorge Vera, has confirmed that the new call for the Employment Plan of the Government Delegation is about to be published, after its approval by the Council of Ministers on July 15.
Our city will have a budget of 13 million euros -of the 25 million allocated jointly to Ceuta and Melilla- to develop an Employment Plan that, as explained by Vera in the interview ‘El Inicio’ of Television Melilla, will involve the incorporation of higher graduates -known as M1-, which were not included in the previous plan. “Along with middle and non-graduate degrees, they are going to hire senior graduates,” he announced.
The Government Delegation will soon be in charge of initiating meetings with the various public agencies, such as Education, Defense or IMSERSO, among others, to update the personnel demands with the new profiles. Based on these demands, the total number of recruitments will be adjusted. “The last Employment Plan accounted for 1,290 jobs because several contribution groups were being filled, but not higher education. This Plan probably represents around 1,000 jobs, because senior graduates earn more,” he said.
Regarding the deadlines, the Provincial Director of the SEPE explained that, once the call is published, there will be a period of 15 days for the Government Delegation to present its projects. From there, the process of valuation, possible corrections and the definitive resolution is opened. According to their estimate, the contracts could start between the months of October and December.
That has reminded us that the Employment Plans are no longer conditioned by the December 31 limit. “That was a burden for the public administrations, when they were charged to a specific exercise, a program, to limit you in that temporary way until December 31 when the programs are already at least six months ahead,” he explained and stressed that now the programs are allowed to start in one exercise and end in the next, which improves operability.
Impact on unemployment
During the television interview, Jorge Vera also reviewed the execution of the plan whose contracts have recently been completed. Thus, he pointed out that the SEPE has met the expected deadlines: six months of contract with prior labor intermediation so that they could begin before June 30. “They are really all working, they are in the different centers where the agreements were made by the Government Delegation,” he said.
For the selection, he pointed out that labor intermediation was carried out according to the profiles requested by the different entities. “The Government Delegation holds meetings with IMSERSO, with Education, with Defense, where they manage to listen to the demands of these public agencies, entities or provincial directorates,” he said, and the SEPE facilitates the relationship of candidates who are then hired.
Deepening on the impact that these active employment policies have on unemployment in the city, Jorge Vera has recognized the positive impact they have, but has clarified that in the months of May and June there was a fall in unemployment that, in large part, has not been related to the Employment Plans.
“In the month of May, we saw that in the fall in unemployment, one hundred of those people who fell in unemployment had nothing to do with the contracts of Employment Plans,” he said. “In the month of June, of the 290 people who reduced unemployment, almost none were from Employment Plans,” he said, given that although the recruitments took place as they were at the end of June, they were not yet mechanized.
Therefore, it has advanced that it will be in the data of July where the direct impact of the hiring of Employment Plans already executed is reflected. “It could be reflected, so I understand that there is going to be a drop in unemployment in which it will have weight this month, the Employment Plans,” he said.
At this point, Vera has also responded to the criticisms that question the validity of the fall in unemployment, considering that it responds to a loss of population in Melilla. “Every time unemployment goes down, there is no time for some parliamentary groups to go out and say that unemployment goes down because people are leaving,” he said.
However, he pointed out that in the year 2024, there were just over 85,800 citizens in Melilla while now the population exceeds 87,000 people. “In a year, Melilla has grown by more than 1,100 people. I don’t know who are the ones who leave, but if some leave, many more are the ones who are coming,” he said.
Professionalized plans and useful work experiences
The Director of SEPE has assured that the current Employment Plans are much more professionalized than those made years ago. “The Employment Plan no longer has anything to do with the first ones that were made,” he said.
“The old ones were perhaps more bread for today and hunger for tomorrow,” he said, but he assured that, currently, “job opportunities are generated and many of those users, who are then proactive, end up finding a job opportunity.”
In fact, Vera has stressed that there are cases of citizens who, after participating in two employment plans, since they have accumulated a full year of experience, has allowed them to access the labor market with indefinite contracts. “There are many cases of people who, having accumulated two Employment Plans, that is, a total year of work experience in a higher degree, has given them the opportunity to enter the labor market with an indefinite hiring,” he said.
During the television interview he made reference to other active policies such as dual and mixed training, with calls that combine training and recruitment. “We are working in parallel with these programs,” he said.