Amsterdam city council is creating 500 subsidised jobs to help the unemployed re-enter the labour market.

The new jobs will include ‘doing up neighbourhoods’, regulating traffic during roadworks and greeting visitors to shopping centres and city squares, the NRC said.

The subsidized scheme, dubbed the ‘work brigade’ will pay the minimum wage. Those accepted for a job will get a two-year contract after which they will be helped to find regular work.

The plan was developed by Arjan Vliegenthart, a Socialist Party supporter and the city’s alderman for social affairs. The city council has set aside €10m to find the project and the first 13 workers will start their new jobs on Monday.

The scheme is targeted at the ‘ordinary unemployed’ – people who are living on welfare benefits, are a little older and need a bit of help and training to get a job, the alderman told the paper.

The scheme is backed by city coalition partner VVD ‘because we have agreed that everyone should be involved in this city’, Vliegenthart said.