The Aragonese Employment Institute (INAEM) promotes youth employment in Aragon with the MEJORA Program, allocating 2.2 million euros to encourage the hiring of unemployed young people and to promote generational change in the region’s businesses.
Promotion of Youth Employment and Generational Change
The MEJORA Program’s main objective is the hiring of unemployed young people up to 35 years old, also seeking to incentivize generational change within the Aragonese business fabric. To achieve this, the aid is conditioned on full-time contracts, ensuring quality employment and a positive impact on the beneficiaries’ professional careers.
The subsidies are divided into two main lines. The first, Improvement of Employability, focuses on indefinite or training contracts with a minimum duration of 12 months. These aids range between 4,273 and 11,935 euros, depending on the type of contract and the contribution group.
The second line, Generational Change, includes relief contracts also on a full-time basis, with subsidies of 4,884 euros for fixed-term contracts and 9,768 euros for indefinite contracts. Both lines can be increased to 12,000 euros if certain conditions are met, such as hiring women, companies with fewer than 10 employees, or those located in small municipalities.
Requirements and Results of the Program
To access these aids, companies, self-employed individuals, and non-profit private entities must be based in Aragon. The young people hired must be up to 35 years old, unemployed, registered as job seekers, and registered in a municipality in Aragon.
The deadline to apply for these subsidies is 15 working days from the registration with Social Security, and the process is carried out electronically at the Government of Aragon’s headquarters, under the section «Subsidies of the MEJORA Program.»
In 2025, the program managed to subsidize 224 contracts through 158 beneficiary companies, distributed among 90 women and 134 men. Of those hired, 41.5% had university degrees, while the rest had vocational training, reflecting the positive impact of the initiative on the qualifications of youth employment in the region.
