Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 February 2016
201. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the timeline for attaining a national unemployment rate below 6%; by year, from 2016 to 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3969/16]
View answerEnterprise 2025 sets out the potential to reach 2.180 million in employment and an overall unemployment rate of 6 percent by 2020. Based on a 2014 baseline, Enterprise 2025 envisages an additional 266,000 people in employment by 2020. This is based on the premise of export led growth and the additional indirect jobs stimulated by the activities of exporting enterprises in the wider economy. Annualised targets have not been set out in the strategy.
The ambition is predicated on taking the actions set out in Enterprise 2025 which are focused on supporting the productive sector, enhancing our relative competitiveness, leveraging existing comparative advantage in key sectors, addressing structural issues in the economy, improving productivity and the capacity of enterprises to innovate. Enterprise 2025 is complemented by the Pathways to Work (PtW) strategy 2016-2020 that that reflects a shift in focus from ‘activation in a time of recession’ to ‘activation in a time of recovery and growth’. PtW involves maintaining a priority focus on addressing the young and long term unemployed and also aims to increase labour market participation and employment progression of people who are not currently active in the labour market.
In addition, the Action Plan for Jobs sets out a more detailed annualised programme of action aimed at achieving the 2020 ambition and is subject to ongoing monitoring in term of delivery of actions and resulting impact. The Regional Action Plans that have been launched over recent months aim to ensure that we realise employment growth throughout the country, leveraging the assets and potential of each and every region in Ireland.
Through coordinated action across Government and strong alignment across relevant strategies we have ensured a commitment and strong focus on job creation, on reducing unemployment and on realising our ambition for sustainable growth over the coming decade.
