Work, applications for the youth bonus start today. Who is eligible, for which contracts, how to apply

The measure of the incentive is equal to 100 per cent of the total social security contributions payable by employers, excluding the premiums and contributions due to INAIL, up to a maximum amount of €500 on a monthly basis for each worker and, in any case, within the spending limits authorised by Decree-Law 60/2024 and in compliance with the procedures, territorial constraints and eligibility criteria set out in the National Programme for Young People, Women and Work 2021-2027. This does not affect the rate at which pension benefits are computed.

In order to support the employment development of the Single Special Economic Zone for the Mezzogiorno and contribute to the reduction of territorial disparities, the Bonus Giovani has also been envisaged in favour of private employers who hire, or transform the employment contract from a fixed-term to an open-ended contract, workers to perform effective service in a head office or production unit located in the regions of Abruzzo Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Sicily, Apulia, Calabria and Sardinia, up to a maximum amount equal to EUR 650 on a monthly basis for each worker, always within the expenditure limits authorised by the Cohesion Decree and in compliance with the procedures, territorial constraints and eligibility criteria set out in the 2021-2027 National Programme for Young People, Women and Work.

The contribution exemptions are granted in favour of all private employers, regardless of whether or not they qualify as entrepreneurs, including employers in the agricultural sector. Therefore, the measures in question do not apply to the public administration.

The contribution exemption equal to 100 per cent of the employer's contributions up to a maximum of EUR 500 per month is available for recruitment on a permanent basis and for the conversion of employment contracts from a fixed-term to an open-ended contract by private employers from 1 September 2024 to 31 December 2025.

The contribution exemption, equal to 100 per cent of employers' contributions up to a maximum of EUR 650 per month, granted to private employers who hire workers in an office or production unit located in the regions of Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Sicily, Apulia, Calabria and Sardinia, is available for permanent hirings and for the conversion of employment contracts from fixed-term to permanent, carried out from 31 January 2025, the date of authorisation of the measure by the European Commission, until 31 December 2025, provided that the application for the relief provided for in the implementing decree is complied with, i.e. that the application for recognition of the exemption is made before proceeding with the hiring/transformation. Both measures concern persons who, at the date of the incentivised event (hiring/transformation), have not reached the age of 35 (meaning an age less than or equal to 34 years and 364 days) and have never been employed on an open-ended contract with the same or another employer during their entire working life.

Moreover, the exemptions concern the hiring of workers with blue-collar, white-collar or managerial qualifications, with the exclusion, by express legal provision, of personnel with managerial qualifications.

The benefits do not apply to domestic work relationships and apprenticeship relationships, in relation to which the current regulatory framework already provides for the application of reduced social security rates with respect to the ordinary one. However, Inps clarifies that the possible presence of apprenticeship relationships prior to the incentivised hiring/transformation does not affect the eligibility for the exemptions, provided that the apprenticeship period is not continued, at the end of the training period, as an ordinary employment relationship of indefinite duration.

Moreover, in view of the rationale of the support, which consists in the desire to increase the employment of stable young people, hiring with an intermittent or on-call employment contract, even if stipulated for an indefinite period, is not included among the types of incentives.

Contribution exemptions are, on the other hand, applicable in the case of part-time employment relationships as well as to open-ended employment relationships established in implementation of the associative bond entered into with an employment cooperative.

Moreover, given the substantial equivalence, for the purposes of the right to the employment incentives, of recruitment for the purpose of staff leasing with subordinate employment relationships, most recently affirmed by Legislative Decree No. 150 of 14 September 2015, the contribution exemptions in question also apply to recruitment for an indefinite term for the purpose of staff leasing, even if the staff leasing is made to the user in the form of a fixed-term contract.

The incentive envisaged for open-ended hirings and for the transformations of employment contracts from fixed-term to open-ended carried out from 1 September 2024 to 31 December 2025 is equal to the exemption from the payment of 100% of the total social security contributions payable by private employers, for a maximum period of twenty-four months, up to a maximum amount of €500 on a monthly basis for each employee. For employment relationships established and terminated in the course of the month, this threshold must be re-proportioned by taking as a reference the measure of €16.12 (€500/31) for each day of use of the contribution exemption.

The incentive envisaged for permanent hirings and for the transformations of employment contracts from fixed-term to open-ended contracts carried out from 31 January 2025, the date of authorisation by the European Commission, until 31 December 2025, is recognised for the hiring of workers in a head office or production unit located in the regions of Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia, for a maximum period of 24 months and up to a maximum amount of €650 on a monthly basis for each worker. For employment relationships established and terminated in the course of the month, this threshold must be re-proportioned by taking as a reference the measure of €20.96 (€650/31) for each day of use of the contribution exemption. In the case of part-time employment relationships, the maximum amount of the relief must be proportionally reduced. Following the application of the measures, the calculation rate for pension benefits remains unchanged.

Decree-Law No. 60/2024 provides that the right to benefit from the exemptions in question is subject to compliance with the general principles on recruitment incentives, compliance with the rules on the protection of working conditions and the compulsory insurance of workers, and compliance with the conditions specifically provided for the measure by Article 22 of the same Decree-Law. Finally, only for the exemption provided by Article 22, paragraph 3 of the Cohesion Decree for recruitment/transformation to open-ended contracts carried out in the single Special Economic Zone for the Mezzogiorno, compliance with the general conditions on State aid is required.

In the online application form, which will be online from 16 May, employers must indicate the identification data of the company; those identifying the worker in respect of whom the recruitment/transformation to open-ended status has taken place or could take place the type of employment contract (whether full-time or part-time) and the hourly rate of work (if any); the amount of the average monthly salary that will be paid, including thirteenth and fourteenth month payments, as well as the amount of the employer's contribution rate referred to the employment relationship. They must also indicate the region and province where the work is actually performed (head office, factory, branch, office or autonomous department). With specific reference to the exemption provided for by Article 22 of the Cohesion Decree, Inps specifies that the application for recognition of the measure may be submitted both for recruitments/transformations already carried out and for relationships not yet established. On the contrary, the application for recognition of the exemption provided for in Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Cohesion Decree, which, as pointed out, due to its territorially selective nature constitutes State aid, can only be submitted for employment relationships not yet in progress.