Deputy Minister for Skills, Julie James has confirmed to start of the Jobs Growth Wales programme and revealed for the successor programme to be in place by next month.

The original Jobs Growth Wales programme was launched in 2012 with a target of creating and filling 12,000 jobs.

The programme has exceeded its targets in every year of operation and has now helped almost 15,000 young people aged 16 – 24 into a job opportunity. This has meant a significant reduction in youth unemployment across Wales.

The Deputy Minister said: “Jobs Growth Wales has been hugely successful, resulting in almost 15,000 young people finding a meaningful job opportunity.

“One of the reasons we have been able to invest so much in the Jobs Growth Wales programme is because it is partly funded by the European union and as such is delivered as a project with a planned start and end date.

“The current EU funded project came to its planned end date on 31st March for new entrants only and we are now in a transition phase.

“We will launch the successor programme next month and I look forward to helping many more young people from across Wales to find meaningful and sustainable employment with the help of Jobs Growth Wales.”

The Welsh Government is currently working with WEFO to progress an application for additional funds for the successor Jobs Growth Wales project under the new European programmes.

The programme has also helped businesses to grow and expand. It is estimated that 8 out of 10 of the jobs created by Jobs Growth Wales have been created in the Private Sector.