Masters and PhD students can enter the workforce faster.
The provincial government launched the Innovate to Opportunity Program yesterday in Halifax.
Labour and Advanced Education Minister Labi Kousoulis says It will help recent graduates with advanced degrees find work in the province.
He says it’s geared toward Masters and PhD students, and the incentive for businesses is a subsidy toward the new graduate’s salary.
“The program [that came out yesterday], there is different levels in it – depending on how much of it is research based,” he says.
“But your first salary can be subsidized up to 50 per cent for the company.”
The program provides three-year funding for small and medium sized enterprises.
Kousoulis says it’s aimed at companies looking for new-graduates for research, innovation and opening up new markets.
It’s also another incentive for people to study and stay in Nova Scotia to work.
He says one program won’t solve everything, but they’re creating more opportunities.
“We have seen in the last two years, for the first time since the mid-1980s, we’re retaining more of our youth than we’re losing. I think that’s a phenomenal statistic.”
Kousoulis says they want to keep youth in the province, and help keep the population up.
He says this program aids in keeping the momentum going, and that they already have two companies signed up.