The Portuguese government is to launch an initiative this month to help companies hire 35,000 people who have been unemployed for over six months.

This news was announce by Secretary of State for Employment Pedro Silva Martins on Wednesday.

Martins told the Lusa News Agnecy that this initiative, called 'Stimulus 2012' had a budget of €100m “mostly from the European Social Fund” aimed at reducing medium and long-term unemployment. The measures will help with training and employability and would be worth “about €420 per job seeker per month for the companies involved”, he said.