Vol. 457 No. 7
284 Mr. D. McDowell asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the number of school leavers who take up FÁS or other training courses without having previously held a full time job; and the number of people who successfully obtain employment on completion of the course. [16413/95]
Specific information on the number of school leavers who had not previously held a job prior to participating on FÁS training programmes is not captured. I would, however, refer the Deputy to the recent ESRI report —"Evaluation of Measures to Assist Young People and the Long Term Unemployed under Objectives 3 and 4 of the 1989/93 Community Support Framework", which found, inter alia, that 89 per cent of 15-19 year olds on FÁS programmes had not held a full-time job during the month immediately prior to participation. Some 14-17 months after completing training, 40 per cent of them were in employment and a further 15 per cent of them were engaging in further training/education opportunities.
Of the 12,231 school leavers who have completed FÁS training so far this year, just over 6,000 either found employment or returned to full-time education. Data on their prior employment/other status is not available although, no doubt, the vast majority of them would have been unemployed immediately prior to taking up a training opportunity with FÁS. I should also point out that, obviously, much of the age group in question avail themselves of foundation-type training programmes. Many would progress to specific skills training from which the placement rate in employment is much higher. FÁS estimated that 70 per cent of participants on these programmes in 1994 obtained employment.
