Pádraig MacLochlainn
Question:45. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether the activation programmes in her Department will have a depressing effect on wages. [43370/13]
View answerThursday, 17 October 2013
Questions (45)
Written answers
The major activation programmes operated in the Department are aimed at increasing the capacity of unemployed people through education and training (for example through the Back to Education Allowance), through offering them periods of productive employment on work of value to the community (for example through Community Employment and Tús) or through offering them periods of work experience (for example under JobBridge). These programmes are therefore likely, through helping to increase the capacity and productivity of the workforce, to support more general increases in output, productivity and wages in the economy over time. While activation efforts can, by increasing the supply of labour, act to restrain upward pressure on wage levels during times of full, or close to full, employment it is very unlikely that activation efforts would ever lead to a reduction in wages. It is particularly unlikely that activation efforts would act in any way to depress salary levels during a period of high unemployment.