social security - FOD Sociale Zekerheid

D. Early retired and young people having left schoolEarly retirement is reserved for older employees dismissed by their employer, to whom a collectivelabour agreement is applied, who have reached the required age and who can prove sufficientformer employment as a salaried worker. Regardless of their family situation, if they leave forearly retirement, they are entitled to unemployment benefits until their actual retirement,amounting to 60% of their limited wage (1,999.28 EUR per month on 1 July 2011). They alsoobtain a supplementary indemnity paid by their former employer.Young people who have completed their studies do not immediately receive an allowance. Theyfirst have to achieve a qualifying period (they have to register as a jobseeker and be availablefor the labour market). During this qualifying period, they still obtain family benefits. After thequalifying period, the duration of which is determined on the basis of their age, they can filean application for tideover allowances. If all conditions are fulfilled (e.g. having completed therequired studies and having validly achieved the qualifying period), they can receive a lump sumtideover allowance, which is also determined on the basis of their family situation and their age.E. Employment measuresSeveral measures have been taken over the past few years to promote employment and reducejoblessness. These measures aim first at encouraging employers to recruit more workers fromspecific categories by granting them a reduction of social security contributions such as theso-called “social Maribel”, the first job’s agreements.Other measures were taken within the framework of the activation of unemployment benefitsand the elimination of the so-called “employment pitfalls”. This means that new types of benefitshave been created or that rules for the application of existing benefits have been adapted inorder to foster as much as possible resumption of work and to increase the employment rateof certain target groups, among others by means of the following measures: the "Activa" jobscheme and its recent variant, i.e. the win-win plan, the neighbourhood services and servicejobs, the occupational transition programmes and the local job agencies, the work resumptionsupplement, the possibility of holidays for the young and the elderly in case of incompleteentitlement to holidays, the training allowance, the training period allowance and the businessestablishment allowance.Moreover, the three Regions in Belgium have set up some reemployment programmes which areparticularly oriented towards the long-term unemployed persons.33