The bill is to benefit employers who will hire such persons in 2016 and 2017 for a period of up to 24 months regardless of the duration of the employment contract, the Government Communication Office said.

Employers will be excused from paying all social contributions for the persons, including pension and health insurance contributions.

A similar measure has already been introduced for people aged under 30 but only for open-ended contracts.

Eligible for the incentive will be employers who did not make lay offs for the past three months, were regularly paying out wages and contributions for the last six months and did not have blocked accounts for the last 30 days or more.

The government is counting on making up for the shortage in the budget revenue through income tax and contributions paid by employees, which are to increase by EUR 3.2m and by EUR 2.8m in 2016 and by another EUR 6.4m and EUR 5.6, respectively, in 2017.

The state is also to make savings for not having to pay out as many unemployment and welfare benefits.

In 2014, 4,613 unemployed aged over 55 got a job, while the government plans to raise this figure to 7,000 a year by stimulating the employment of such persons.