Written Answers Nos. 144-151
144. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if known, the extent to which unemployed with various skills and educational levels, have succeeded in accessing employment in each of the past four years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24784/13]
View answerThe type of data outlined in the Deputy’s question is not collated by any Government Department or Agency. However, there are a range of measures in place which aim to match available skills with employment opportunities.
The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), which reports jointly to me and to the Minister for Education and Skills, publishes an annual Skills Bulletin which provides a review of employment trends, job opportunities and demand for skills in the Irish economy. It is available on the website of the EGFSN at www.skillsireland.ie.
The FÁS Skills and Labour Market Research Unit which provides the EGFSN with data, analysis and research, also manages the National Skills Database.
The new Intreo employment service, operated by the Department of Social Protection, provides a personalised service to unemployed people, based on their individual needs. It includes advice on education, training and personal development opportunities, job search assistance as well as information on, and access to, a range of income supports. Intreo also provides a wide range of supports and services to assist with company employment needs and is designed to make sure companies can access potential employees from the live register. Further information on Intreo can be found on the Department of Social Protection’s website, www.welfare.ie.
JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, which came into operation on 1st July 2011 has seen over 17,400 internships commenced since its introduction. The aim of the National Internship Scheme is to assist in breaking the cycle where jobseekers are unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training, or as unemployed workers wishing to learn new skills.
An independent evaluation of JobBridge conducted by Indecon Economic Consultants found that 61% of individuals who have participated in JobBridge have progressed into employment within five months of completing their internship placements. This high level of progression into employment exceeds that of similar schemes across Europe, suggesting that JobBridge is an effective labour market intervention.
145. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he is satisfied of the ability of industry here to continue to compete with the competition in domestic and export markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24785/13]
View answerIreland is already rated highly internationally as one of the best countries in the world in which to do business, and we have built a strong competitive basis on which to compete on global markets. For example, Ireland has moved up four places to 20th place in the IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012 and is also ranked 15th in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2012 Report.
There are a number of key areas where Ireland tops global competitiveness rankings, including:
- business impact of rules on foreign direct investment;
- inflation;
- FDI and technology transfer;
- availability of skilled labour;
- flexibility and adaptability of the labour force; and
- investment incentives.
Overall, exports of goods and services from Ireland are now well above pre-crisis levels. The value of exports increased by 5% and reached €173 billion in 2011. A further 5.5% increase in 2012 saw a new record for Irish exports of €182 billion. We still have one of the most open and flexible economies in the world and continue to have one of the world’s most highly skilled, highly educated and productive workforces.
We are making progress on the jobs front through the Action Plan for Jobs process, which is systematically transforming the operating environment for business, improving our competitiveness and supporting companies in increasing employment. We will continue this transformation in order to achieve our aim of making Ireland the best small country in which to do business.
146. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which she expects to be in a position to address the issue of youth unemployment in this jurisdiction and throughout Europe in the short and medium term; the degree to which she expects any specific targets to be met in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24781/13]
View answerThe Government’s primary medium-term strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. Past experience suggests that youth unemployment, which tends to rise relatively rapidly in a downturn, can be expected to fall relatively rapidly during the recovery.
In addition to promoting medium-term economic recovery, the Government recognises the need for interim measures in the short-term to support the young unemployed and keep young jobseekers close to the labour market.
In this regard the State already provides a significant number of initiatives which are of relevance to young people and the Department of Social Protection took steps in Budget 2013 to increase funding and places for schemes such as JobBridge, Community Employment, TÚS and a new state employment scheme in the local Government sector. In total an additional 10,000 places will be provided. Other relevant provision is made through the training and education programmes delivered through FÁS and the further education sector.
At an EU level the most recent initiative for dealing with the youth unemployment problem is the Council Recommendation for an EU-wide Youth Guarantee, which was formally adopted last month as part of the Irish Presidency.
The Recommendation is that Member States should: "ensure that all young people under the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education."
While Member States are encouraged to implement the Recommendation as soon as possible, it is recognised that implementation will need to be more gradual in countries with higher levels of youth unemployment and particularly severe budgetary problems. The government will now review the current range of youth employment and training policies in Ireland to assess what measures will need to be taken to commence the gradual implementation of the guarantee. This will include the identification of what would be the appropriate timescale for implementation in Ireland's current employment and budgetary circumstances.
In this context, the Government intends to work with all relevant stakeholders to maximise the impact of a youth guarantee in Ireland. We have sought funding from the European Commission for a proposed pilot Youth Guarantee project in the Ballymun area of north Dublin, and numerous organisations (e.g. IBEC, Ballymun Job Centre, National Youth Council of Ireland) have agreed to participate in this pilot. It is hoped that the findings from this pilot will inform both national and EU policy in relation to the implementation of a youth guarantee.
The scale and nature of any additional measures required for the gradual implementation of a guarantee at national level will depend on the trend in youth unemployment, and in particular the number of young people likely to experience periods of unemployment of more than four months under current policies. In this context, it is a welcome development that the official labour market figures published by the CSO recently indicated that the number of young unemployed at the end of 2012, at 59,000, a reduction of almost 9,000 on the same time a year earlier. It is to be hoped that this is the beginning of a sustained downward movement in youth unemployment as the economy recovers. Even so, the implementation of a guarantee will, almost certainly, require an expansion in the range of opportunities currently on offer to young people in the form of further education and training, internships, subsidised private-sector recruitment, and supports for self-employment.
In terms of targets, the government’s Action Plan for Jobs sets out to help create the right environment for the creation of 100,000 net new jobs by 2016. In this context, the Department of Finance anticipates that the overall unemployment rate will fall from 14.7% in 2012 to 12.3% in 2016. This could be expected to see youth unemployment fall from over 30% in 2012 to 24% or less in 2016. It is to be hoped that any measures taken by government in relation to the implementation of the youth guarantee will see youth unemployment fall even further than this.
147. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of young persons previously on the live register who obtained and have retained employment in each of the past three years to date, in the private and public sectors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24782/13]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is not available at present.
The Department holds a wide range of data collected in the process of engaging with jobseekers. These data which are held on a number of separate systems are mainly used at present to establish entitlements, to identify fraud and abuse and to advise and assist jobseekers on a pathway back to employment.
The Department is currently reviewing the data it holds by individual PPSN on a longitudinal basis. This involves restructuring of existing data from various systems into a consistent time series in respect of each jobseeker. By restructuring the data in this manner the Department will, in the future, be able to produce more complete estimates of progression outcomes.
Analysis of customer outcomes will be made available after technical and data validation work is completed.
148. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for persons who may not have sufficient PRSI contributions due to breaks in employment, for home-makers who worked in the home, for those who took a break from employment to care for family members and now find themselves without sufficient PRSI contributions to obtain the State pension transition, due to be abolished in January 2014 for new applicants reaching 65 on or after January 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24534/13]
View answerThe State pension is a very valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the Irish pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives.
The homemaker’s scheme makes qualification for the State pension (contributory) easier by disregarding time spent out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme was introduced in and took effect from 1994. Eligibility for the homemaker’s scheme is conditional on firstly meeting the standard qualifying conditions for State pension.
There are no plans to review the effective date for this scheme as backdating the scheme further than 1994 would involve considerable costs. The 2007 Green Paper on Pensions indicated that to back-date the homemaker’s scheme to 1953, the year when the unified system of social insurance was introduced in Ireland, would cost the Exchequer in the region of €160m. Costs in relation to this scheme, under the current rules, are expected to increase in the coming years due to the increase in female employment rates since 1994.
The standardisation of State pension age to 66 is one of the reform measures planned which aims to increase the sustainability of the Irish pension system and this was provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011. The State pension (transition) which applies for one year for persons of age 65 will cease from 1st January 2014 and thereafter, State pension age will increase to 67 in 2021and 68 in 2028. The number of women affected by this change is minimal given that only 0.05% of women came from homemaking to State pension transition.
People who are affected by the upcoming changes may be able to avail of a social welfare payment where there is an income need and details of same are available at www.welfare.ie.
In relation to women and social insurance payments, the recently published Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund confirms that the Fund provides better value to female rather than male contributors. It further confirms that those with lower earnings and those with shorter contribution histories, mostly women, have and will continue to obtain the best value for money from the Fund due to the redistributive nature of the Fund.
150. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she or officials in her Department have engaged with representatives of the farming organisations and officials of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to assess the impact of the recent fodder crisis on those in receipt of farm assist; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24556/13]
View answerThe farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker's allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace 'Smallholders Unemployment Assistance' for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker's allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes.
Farm assist is a flexible payment and any farmer experiencing lower levels of income or cash-flow issues, due for example to bad weather, can ask his/her local social welfare / Intreo office to review the level of means applying to his/her claim.
The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income and looks at gross income, less any expenses necessarily incurred, from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances so as to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the current situation.
I met with a delegation from the Irish Farmers Association on 15th May 2013 to discuss a range of issues, including difficulties arising as a result of fodder shortages and the operation of the farm assist scheme generally. Officials from the Department are also in contact with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in relation to the fodder situation.
