Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2012
48. Deputy John Browne asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if he has had any discussions with the Department of Social Protection regarding plans for the introduction of a youth guarantee scheme as part of the EU presidency in 2013; his views on whether this goes far enough in tackling youth unemployment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41645/12]
View answerThe European Commission has signalled its intention to bring forward proposals to combat youth unemployment and support transition to work through a range of measures such as youth guarantees, activation measures targeting young people, the quality of traineeships, and youth mobility. The proposed measures follow upon the call by the European Council on 29 June that urged member states to step up efforts to increase youth employment, with "the objective that within a few months of leaving school, young people receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or a traineeship".
My colleague the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, was invited to the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection on 26 September to outline the business of the forthcoming formal meeting of the Employment and Social Affairs Council, EPSCO, in Luxembourg on 4 October and to brief the joint committee on her priorities for the forthcoming EU Presidency in the first half of 2013. The Minister, Deputy Burton, informed the joint committee that the European Commission is expected to publish a set of proposals in early December in the form of a youth transitions package. The main element of the forthcoming package is expected to be a proposal for a youth guarantee aiming to ensure targeted young people are either working or in appropriate training or work experience within a specified time after becoming unemployed. The objective of the Commission’s proposal is to intensify actions at EU and member state level aimed at addressing the high level of youth unemployment across Europe.
My Department is responsible for convening an interdepartmental committee to co-ordinate policy in regard to the work of the EPSCO. I can confirm that there are continuing discussions involving the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Education and Skills and my Department, among others, regarding the possible content of the expected European Commission proposals, how they can be best adapted to the most urgent needs in the differing labour market circumstances of the EU member states in order to support young people in securing access to good quality apprenticeships, traineeship contracts and entrepreneurial skills, as well as modernising education and training systems to better reflect labour market needs.
I will have an opportunity on Wednesday, that is tomorrow, to discuss the Commission’s proposed measures directly with László Andor, the EU Commissioner responsible for employment, social affairs and inclusion. I will assure Commissioner Andor that the incoming Presidency will co-operate with the European Commission to secure early adoption by the Council in 2013 of measures designed to encourage EU member states to strengthen co-operation among employment services and other labour market stakeholders, including the social partners and education and training bodies to target young people.
I have been a little untidy in that I should have been restricting the supplementary questions and the replies thereto to one minute each.
The Acting Chairman has been quite tidy for me up to now.
The Minister cannot believe the answer he has given. He had a considerable track record going into this Department. We have a 30% youth unemployment rate. The rate in Europe is 23%, the common rate having regard to all labour market conditions in Europe. Therefore, we have a serious problem, yet we get more words and verbiage. The European Commission does not understand the seriousness of this problem or, if it does, it is doing nothing about it.
When the Minister, together with almost the entire Government, go to Brussels tomorrow, can he emphasise that in Ireland, Spain, Greece and all of the member states the biggest issue to be faced is youth unemployment. Young people are not getting their chance. Deputy Tóibín referred to the brain drain out of this country in terms of emigration. The statistics reveal that 65% of young people now report their principal status as a student compared to 51% four years earlier. People are going down the education route. They are doing many things to avoid becoming an unemployment statistic. We have 306,000 people unemployed in this country, yet big companies tell us they cannot fill vacancies. I ask the Minister why do we not take action in Ireland and put in place an upskilling programme in the IT sector? It would involve the Minister's Department and the Department of Education and Skills. Surely the vacancies that are in the technical sector can be filled by those who are unemployed, particularly those who are classified as youth unemployed.
As there are three other Members who wish to put questions, does the Minister wish to hear their questions before he addresses this one?
Perhaps he should address this one first.
Okay, but I remind Members that we are working against the clock on these.
With respect to Deputy Calleary, the question he put down was on the EU Presidency and asking a supplementary question about a national initiative-----
My question was whether this goes far enough in tackling youth unemployment. Youth unemployment is what I am interested in here. What is being done about it?
The position in regard to the Presidency is that it is seeking to have a youth guarantee scheme adopted but there is no financial mechanism attached to it. What it is considering is that it would be embodied in the reviews by the EU of the employment policies of different countries.
They will be looking to see to what extent countries are embodying youth initiatives. The Government has a number of such initiatives, including Springboard, JobBridge, Tús and so on, which do not come under my Department's remit but about which I am aware.
The Commission is establishing a specific preparatory pilot scheme and it will give an opportunity for member states to develop models. I understand non-governmental organisations, which are interested in applying for this, should contact the Department of Education and Skills.
There is a question later on the wider issue of youth unemployment, which I will be happy to address then. It is a much wider issue than the Commission's specific initiative. The policy changes are those that have been brought in. JobBridge, for example, has had 7,000 participants through it and it is achieving a 40% placement rate. Springboard has had an equally good take up and success rate. These innovative policy instruments have proved successful and Ministers will look to build on those.
Will the three Members ask their final supplementary questions before the Minister replies because we are running out of time for this question?
The youth unemployment figures are unbelievable. A total of 5 million young people are unemployed in Europe currently while, in this State, 30% of young people are unemployed with 50% long-term unemployed. The Minister mentioned the preparatory action. The Commission has allocated €4 million for this, which equates to 80 cent per unemployed youth in the State. That is laughable if one is looking to tackle this issue. There are 7,000 participants in JobBridge but 1,600 people are emigrating on a weekly basis. The amount allocated is nowhere near proportionate. What budget is necessary to deal with this problem? Where will be Minister get this money? Will it be through Europe or the Government?
How will the Minister pull off this conjuring trick if the methods he uses are the ones he is currently employing and seriously failing with? He quoted JobBridge figures but that initiative is one of the biggest scams going. In reality, it is an exploitative scheme to replace real jobs with bogus internships. Only 400 jobs have been created under it and the Minister has yet to explain how that will be a solution to chronic youth unemployment. It is estimated the €3.5 billion in cutbacks the Government is proposing will take another 30,000 jobs out of the economy. How will that address the position of young people who are currently unemployed?
Does the Minister agree that the labour market has become much too focused on the short term and there is too little investment in training and apprenticeships, through which it takes time to reap rewards? Even prior to the recession in the construction sector, apprenticeship schemes had almost disappeared and we became reliant on eastern Europe for tradesmen. There has to be direct Government action to stimulate such schemes across every industry because they have disappeared gradually over the past 20 years and we have reached a point where all our young people must leave the country to get work.
The Commission's ability to fund more initiatives in the youth unemployment area will depend on the European Social Fund budget. However, it is clearly Commissioner Andor's intention that there will be a shift in emphasis towards youth unemployment and youth guarantees. That is the implication of what he is seeking to do.
With regard to the domestic economy, I take Deputy Wallace's point. For a start, FÁS became solely focused on apprenticeships within the construction sector whereas the reality, if one examines the German and other successful continental European markets, is their apprenticeships models have a much broader industrial base. The EU is seeking to promulgate the building of a wider base of apprenticeships for member states. The role of SOLAS and the reorganised VECs will be in this area and the Deputy ought to table a question in this regard to the Minister for Education and Skills.
On the wider issue of the strategy for tackling unemployment raised by Deputy Clare Daly, we all know about financial constraints on the Government. However, within that, there are a number of strands in the strategy. One element is to make financial consolidation, which is essential, more job friendly. For example, selling old assets in order to invest in new assets is a way of becoming more dynamic. Examining the establishment of funds to exploit through NewERA and infrastructure can drive potential. Equally, the action plan for jobs considers how to get the whole of Government to move to a more pro-employment area. Pathways to Work, from the Minister for Social Protection, is about identifying those who are disadvantaged in the labour market and seeking to support them to give them an opportunity to take up employment. It involves many Ministers other than me but that is the basic approach.
