Benidorm requests a grant of 445,000 euros to hire unemployed young people for ten months

Benidorm City Council, through its Department of Employment and Local Promotion, has applied for a grant of €445,136 to hire twenty unemployed young people under the age of 30 for ten months. The councillor for the department, Mónica Gómez, explained that “once again, and as part of the municipal policy to promote employment among the population segments with the highest unemployment rates, we are participating in the call for applications for the regional program LABORA Jove 2026, formerly known as Empuju, aimed at people under 30.”

She reported that the program is financed with funds from the State Public Employment Service and promoted by the Valencian Regional Government through the Valencian Employment and Training Service, LABORA, and has a total budget of €12,250,000 for the entire Valencian Community.

Gómez explained that the number of beneficiaries of this program “will depend on the final grant amount received.” She also noted that “the call for these grants stipulates that the funds awarded will be used to finance the salary costs and Social Security contributions of the hired individuals.”

The Head of Employment and Local Promotion emphasised that, “once again, we are experiencing times of economic uncertainty at both the national and international levels, and therefore it is important to promote initiatives that encourage hiring and job creation, which is the best social policy that can be implemented. In this case, it offers our young people not only stability during the ten-month duration of the contract but also a great opportunity to increase their professional experience for the future and improve their employability.”

She explained that the project described in the grant application aims to fill 10 customer service and 10 maintenance worker positions.

Finally, Mónica Gómez recalled that “last year, 2025, Benidorm City Council was unable to participate in this program, as it was intended solely for the hiring of young people by intermunicipal associations and not by individual municipalities. Therefore, in 2026, we are applying again and hope to receive the maximum amount possible to strengthen our employment promotion initiatives.”

The previous edition of the program, then called Empuju, resulted in the hiring of five unemployed individuals under 30 years of age for 10 months in 2024, following a €66,923 grant from LABORA, supplemented by a municipal contribution of €35,456. All of them worked in various citizen information and service positions.