Written Answers. - Long-Term Unemployment.
Seamus Brennan
Question:
129
Mr. S. Brennan
asked the
Minister for Enterprise and Employment
the plans, if any, he has to secure employment prospects for the long-term unemployed; the number of jobs created and the number of jobs lost in the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[11843/96]
As I have already pointed out in this House recently, the Government has been responding to the particular problem of long-term unemployment through a variety of targeted measures. These include the development of more employment friendly taxation and social welfare regimes and the introduction in this year's budget of a series of precisely targeted employment measures:— the splitting of the Community employment (CE) programme into two distinct options (a) a part-time integration option, and (b) a part-time jobs option and the better targeting of the programme at the long-term unemployed; introduction of a new pilot whole-time jobs option; introduction of a new recruitment subsidy scheme called Jobstart; introduction of a new work experience programme called Work-Place; introduction of special measures for 18-19 year olds; the extension of back to work allowance scheme; the retention of certain benefits for those returning to work.
The establishment of the local employment service represents an important component of the Government's response to tackling long-term unemployment. The distinctive additional elements of this service, in providing an individually tailored progression path towards employment for its clients and in ensuring that there is well co-ordinated employment service delivery at local level, should yield real benefits in terms of securing employment for long-term unemployed persons, as the Service develops. The fact that it is initially launched in 14 areas, including the major unemployment black spots in the country means that it is first being targeted where it is most crucially needed.
My plans for 1996 are that the local employment service should be consolidated in these 14 areas and subject to an initial evaluation before the service is expanded on a planned basis to other areas. In this way we can ensure that the service is developed to maximum effect for its client population.
Training is another important component in any measure of active labour market interventions aimed at addressing the problems of long-term unemployment, given the strong link between low levels of education attainment and long-term unemployment. I will be addressing this problem in the White Paper on Human Resource Development which I will be submitting to the Government shortly for consideration.
Finally, there are the on-going activities of the industrial development agencies which continue to make a substantial contribution to job creation throughout the country.
The statistics sought by the Deputy are as follows:
Full Year 1995
Job Gains. 25,473: Job Losses, 15,122; Net. 10,351. (These figures cover the activities of IDA Ireland, Forbairt, Údarás na Gaeltachta and SFADCo).
Furthermore, in CEB-assisted firms there were 2,887 full-time and 815 part-time jobs created during 1995.
The full results of the 1995 Labour Force survey — position at mid-April 1995 — which have just recently been released, show an increase in the numbers at work of 52,000, 4.4 per cent.
