A £1.2 MILLION cash boost is set to provide 500 new
apprenticeships for young people at private firms in the Capital.
Hundreds of young people aged between 16 and 24 will get the
chance to join small and medium-sized businesses for a 12-month period.
The jobs programme will get under way this summer following
a cash injection from the Scottish Government as part of the Youth Employment
Scotland programme.
City councillors, who applied for the funding, described the
apprenticeships as “great news” for young people searching for work in
Edinburgh.
The award comes as figures revealed that one in 100
full-time equivalent workers at the council is an apprentice, achieving a
target set in September 2011.
The council has 116 apprentices, with another 18 due to be
taken on next month. Meanwhile, figures published by the Scottish Government
showed that the rate of city school leavers “achieving and sustaining a
positive destination” are the highest rate ever.
They are up 3.3 per cent on the same time last year, to 89.8
per cent.
A “positive destination” is defined as a place in higher
education, further education, a job, paid apprenticeship, or work-focused
training.
The 500 apprenticeships, whose wages will be subsidised
through the new funding, are aimed at opening up opportunities for jobseekers
and helping to grow businesses.READ MORE
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