Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 June 2015
113. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his assessment regarding the level of unemployment among recent graduates in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24135/15]
View answerAction Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2015 was published in January this year and is the fourth in the multi-annual series of a whole of government approach to economic recovery, export growth and job creation. The Action Plan for Jobs set a target to increase employment by 100,000 by 2016 and this target was achieved 21 months ahead of the target. Much work remains to be done however to replace all the jobs lost in the downturn, and we are determined as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs and the Spring Economic Statement to have 2.1 million at work by 2018 and to get the unemployment rate below 8 per cent.
Our focus will continue to be on ensuring that there are rewarding employment opportunities for all those who lost their jobs during the recession and for those new to the labour market in to the future. Each quarterly progress report published on my Department’s website of the Action Plan for Jobs contains within its commentary section an update on employment data. This year we have also embedded a new assessment framework, which will improve monitoring associated with our employment policies. This is in response to a suggestion by the OECD that one area of improvement for APJ was to more clearly link actions to outcomes.
It is important to record that over 104,000 more people are at work since the launch of the first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. In the case of Dublin, the unemployment rate has been brought down from 13.2% in the first Quarter of 2012 to 8.8% in the first Quarter of 2015 and there were 584,900 at work in the Dublin region, an increase of 43,400 since 2012.
My Department, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices work closely with the Department of Social Protection to provide opportunities for all those seeking employment in Dublin, including graduates. According to the HEA publication “What do graduates do – the Class of 2013” (published Dec 2014), Dublin is the Region with the most employment opportunities for graduates across all levels of qualifications with 34% Honours Bachelor Degree, 32% of Higher Diploma, 27% of Graduate Diploma, 43% of Taught masters, 37% Research Masters and 32% of Doctorates employed in the Region. One third of the population live in Dublin.
Overall the HEA data indicates that in 2013 the proportion of university graduates with an Honours Bachelor Degree seeking employment after nine months of graduation was 6%. Similarly, the proportion of graduates with a Higher & Postgraduate Diploma seeking employment after 9 months was 9%, while for Masters/Doctorates holders the proportion seeking employment 9 months after graduation was 11%. Our aim is to further increase job vacancies especially for new entrants to the labour market.
