Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 May 2016
499. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Social Protection the planned provision and participation by young persons on the various schemes and programmes under the Youth Guarantee in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13408/16]
View answerThe Government’s primary strategy to reduce youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and the availability of productive employment for young people. This strategy has been succeeding; by Q1 2016 the level of employment is up by 159,000 from the lowest level reached in 2012.
Youth unemployment is estimated at 15.0% (27,900 persons) in May 2016 and has fallen from a peak of over 30% at the trough of the recession.
The Government recognises that as the recovery takes hold, there is a need for additional measures to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs created are taken up by jobseekers and young jobseekers in particular. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy and the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (YGIP).
Within this framework, the Youth Guarantee sets a medium-term objective of ensuring that young people receive an offer of employment within four months of engaging with the Intreo Service. The main plank of the guarantee is assistance to young people in finding and securing sustainable jobs. In 2015 monthly engagement by case officers with all young unemployed was implemented. For those who do not find employment, additional offers are provided for. Most such offers (over 70%) are in further education or training. Others are in community-based employment programmes such as CE, Gateway and Tús, or through the JobsPlus employment subsidy for private employment.
Places on most of these programmes are demand led. While it was anticipated that take-up on the relevant programmes in 2014 might be as high as 28,000, actual take-up was 23,000. As the economy has improved, inflows into these programmes have decreased further, reflecting the drop in youth unemployment. There were just over 19,000 places taken up in 2015. The number of starters during the first three months of 2016 is detailed in the table. On the basis of the trend in the early part of the year, it is estimated that the full-year intake in 2016 will be somewhat below the 2015 figure of 19,000.
Quarter 1 2016 Starters (information available up to 27th May 2016)
|
Programme |
Number of starters up to Q1 2016 |
Note |
|
Youthreach |
n/a |
Youthreach (q1 figures will be available in June) |
|
Community Training Centres |
532 |
|
|
JobBridge |
370 |
|
|
Tús |
258 |
|
|
JobsPlus ( including JobsPlus Youth) |
35 |
|
|
Momentum |
118 |
|
|
BTEA (excl Momentum) |
62 |
Intake is mainly in September |
|
BTWEA |
46 |
|
|
VTOS |
n/a |
Enrolment begins in September |
|
Former FÁS/SOLAS |
1319 |
Based on Specific Skills Training, Traineeship, Bridging & Local Training Initiative starters. |
|
International Work Experience and Training |
0 |
|
|
Gateway |
3 |
|
|
Community Employment |
301 |
|
|
Total |
3,044 |
Excluding where figures are not available |
