Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
333. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Social Protection the criteria in place to assess whether job offers under the youth guarantee scheme are quality offers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11948/17]
View answerGovernment policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs; and second, through Pathways to Work to ensure that as many of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, including young people.
To date, these policies have been effective in reducing youth unemployment. The youth unemployment rate has fallen from 31.1% in July 2012 to 14.5% in February 2017. The actual number of young unemployed has fallen from 70,000 to 30,500 over this period. Irish youth unemployment is now significantly below the EU average.
As many of the elements of a Youth Guarantee were already in place in Ireland prior to the EU Recommendation, the implementation of the Irish Youth Guarantee focused on enhancing processes and policies for assisting young unemployed people to find and secure sustainable jobs. To this end there is monthly engagement by case officers with all young unemployed to facilitate their return to employment.
The quality of a job offer is retrospectively defined as a job offer that leads to sustainable employment. The Department of Social Protection participates in the EU-wide annual data collection to monitor progress on the Youth Guarantee, which includes tracking the employment outcomes of the young unemployed over 6, 12 and 18 months. In relation to the year 2014, the data showed that almost 31,000 young people who had been wholly unemployed and receiving job-seeker’s payments exited unemployment to take up jobs during that year. Two-thirds of this group were still in employment 18 months later. Initial indications are that the follow-up information for those who exited unemployment in 2015 (which will be available in mid-2017) will show a broadly similar pattern of outcomes.
On this basis, a significant proportion of the young unemployed can be assessed as having taken up a quality job offer, in line with the Youth Guarantee Recommendation.
