Prime À L’Emploi : July 2022 to June 2023

The Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 introduced a new scheme  known as “Prime à L’Emploi Scheme” with the objective of bringing young Mauritians and women into the labour force. Under that scheme, government will provide a monthly Prime à l’Emploi of up to Rs 15,000 for the first year of employment of 10,000 youths aged between 18 and 35 years and women aged up to 50 years.  

The employer will have the possibility to recruit the employees during the period starting from 01 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. The monthly allowance is payable for the month in which the employee starts employment and for  the next 11 consecutive months.

The MRA has been entrusted with the responsibility to pay the Prime à L’Emploi.

The allowance is payable to eligible employers in respect of the first 10,000 eligible employees.

The following persons are eligible for the scheme as employees:

  1. An individual who is a Mauritian citizen and is resident in Mauritius;

  2. An individual who is employed on a full-time basis by an eligible employer;

  3. An individual who, on the date he/she takes up employment, is above 18 years but:

    • not above 35 years of age, in the case of a male; and

    • not above 50 years of age, in the case of a female.

  4. An individual who was not employed for a period of at least 6 months prior to the date on which he/she takes employment with an eligible employer;

  5. The basic wage or salary payable to the individual does not exceed 50,000 rupees in a month; and

  6. An individual who is not undergoing training or a household employee.

The following employers are eligible for the scheme:

An employer established in Mauritius and includes a company, a societe, an association, a trust, a foundation, a co-operative, a charitable institution approved by the Director-General or registered under the Registration of Associations Act, charitable trust or charitable foundation, a religious body and an individual who is an employer.

The following employers are not eligible for the scheme:

  • A Ministry, a Government department, a local authority, a statutory body or the Rodrigues Regional Assembly; a public enterprise; a person employing only household employees; and such category of employer as may be prescribed;

NB: Public Enterprise refers to an institution which is either Government-owned or Government-controlled, and which is entirely or majority-owned or otherwise controlled by the Government or by any other public institution.

Employers are required to maintain an eligible employee, in respect of whom approval has been obtained, in employment for a period of at least three years.

Application to join the scheme:

  1. An eligible employer should apply electronically to the Director-General for an approval in respect to its eligible employee within 15 days from the date the employee takes up employment.

  2. Where the applicable conditions are met, approval is given by the MRA instantly on the website.

  3. The application to join the scheme, in respect of an employee, is made only once.

Application for payment of the “Prime à L’Emploi” :

  1. Employers are required to submit, with respect to a month, a monthly application electronically to the Director-General and provide the details of the approved employees who were employed under the scheme during that month.

  2. Monthly application for payment, with respect to a month, is required to be made within 3 months from the end of that month.

  3. Employers are required to be compliant their obligations under the Social Contribution and Social Benefits Act 2021, the National Savings Fund Act, the Human Resource Development Act and Part VIII of the Workers’ Rights Act 2019.

  4. Employers are required to safeguard employment of an approved eligible employee for a period of at least three years.

Method of application:

To submit an application, employers are required to use their Employer Registration Number (ERN) as user ID and the password allocated by the MRA.

Refund of Allowance by Employer

  1. Where an employer has benefited from an allowance for a particular month and fails to pay the basic wage or salary of the eligible employee for that month, the employer shall not be entitled to any allowance for any subsequent month and shall be liable to refund the allowance for that month to the Director-General.

  2. Where an employer has benefited from an allowance in excess of the amount to which he is entitled or has provided false, incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate information, the Director-General may recover the excess amount or allowance, in the same manner as income tax is recoverable under Part IVC of the Mauritius Revenue Authority Act.

  3. Where the Director-General determines that an employee in respect of whom an allowance has been paid has not worked for the employer to whom the allowance has been paid, the employer shall be liable to refund the total allowance that has been paid in respect of that employee.

  4. Where the employer terminates the employment of an eligible employee before the end of the period of 3 years, he shall be liable to refund the total allowance that has been paid to him, in respect of that eligible employee.

General information before making an application:

  • Employers are recommended to use a recent version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as browser to file the application.

  • Kindly note that it is the employer’s responsibility to make a correct and complete application.

  • Please ensure that you provide the name of the declarant, email address and telephone number as they will be used by MRA to communicate with you.

On successful submission of the application to join the scheme, an acknowledgement message will be displayed on your screen together with the NIDs of approved eligible employees.

Support services

Eligible employers who are not able to submit an application are requested to send an email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

MRA Help Desk service on 207 6000 is also available during office hours from 08 45 to 16 30 on working days to assist employers.

External Links : CATA |  ATAF |  WCO  |  Trade Obstacles Alert | Mauritius Trade Easy