Thomas Pringle
Question:536. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures she is taking to address the high levels of youth unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4461/21]
View answerWednesday, 27 January 2021
Questions (536, 537)
Thomas Pringle
Question:537. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has sought or received input from the Labour Market Advisory Council on measures to address the high levels of youth unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4462/21]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 536 and 537 together.
The experience of past recessions indicates that youth employment tends to be disproportionately impacted by any labour market shock. This is because many employers operate a "last in-first out" protocol when reducing their labour force. Moreover, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, this disproportionate impact is driven by the tendency for many younger people to work in some of the sectors most severely impacted by the pandemic; namely Accommodation and Food and Retail.
Prior to the pandemic, youth unemployment stood at just over 11% in December 2019 based on the Labour Force Survey data. By December 2020 however, this figure had increased to almost 20%. If PUP recipients at the end of December are included, just under 45% of young people in the labour force were unemployed at that stage.
It is important to note that the Government extended access to PUP to students who worked part-time, with a significant share of current claimants under 25 self-certifying as students. Using internationally recognised standards set by the International Labour Organisation, these students would not normally be considered, or counted, as unemployed, as they do not meet the standard conditions to be part of the labour force. Therefore the above measures of youth unemployment are somewhat overstated.
While the employment of young people is significantly affected by the pandemic, we also know from past recessions that youth unemployment levels typically fall quite quickly once economic activity resumes. In addition, the jobs of many persons currently on PUP will not be permanently lost due to the pandemic. Many will return to previous employment once restrictions ease, as they did during previous easing of restrictions during 2020.
However, others will require assistance and support to return to employment, reskill and to find new jobs. My Department is supporting initiatives to assist people, including young people, get back to work, once COVID-19 restrictions and their impact on the economy and labour market begin to ease.
In formulating and developing these programmes and services, my Department continues to work closely with, and be advised by, the Labour Market Advisory Council (LMAC) – a group which is composed of leading labour market experts, representatives of industry and workers and representatives of unemployed people.[1]
The first task assigned to the LMAC was to develop, as a matter of urgency, proposals for actions to tackle the labour market challenges arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this mandate the Council prepared a Policy Paper – ‘Preparing for Economic Recovery’ – which outlined a series of recommendations for public policy and labour market responses needed to tackle the labour market challenges arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
Among the key recommendations of the LMAC’s policy paper were the call for enhanced employer incentives and subsidies, the expansion of existing work placements and the introduction of new work placement programmes. It also recommended enhanced cooperation with the further education sector and active labour market measures.
Taking the above recommendations of the Council into account, which noted in particular the adverse impact of the pandemic on our young workers, my Department, along with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, are putting in place the following measures, as announced under the July Jobs Stimulus:
- Expanding the caseload capacity of Intreo Centres during Q1 2021 with the assignment of 100 job coaches to provide enhanced employment services and supports. Case officer support to help people with job search advice and assistance is shown to be the most effective means of helping people move into employment. These are currently coming on stream.
- Extending the current contracts of existing contracted public employment service providers into 2021. In particular, the Local Employment Service is being extended into four new areas.
- Expanding the benefit of the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy to employers who hire young people. Under this scheme an employer receives the JobsPlus subsidy of €7,500 once they employ a young person (under 30 years of age) who has been unemployed for just 4 months. A higher subsidy of €10,000 is paid for recruitment of a person who was long term unemployed (over 12 months). This will help make it more attractive to recruit young people who face difficulties in securing a footing in employment.
- Providing access to additional full-time and part-time education, including targeted short-term courses, with over 35,000 new education and training places for those currently unemployed.
- Providing incentives to employers to take on more apprentices, with the provision of a grant of €3,000 to employers for each new apprentice recruited until June 2021.
- Facilitating access to the Back to Education Allowance and Back to Work Enterprise Allowance to those displaced by the pandemic by waiving the usual qualifying period of 3-9 months. My Department will actively promote this scheme to suitable candidates and although it is not budget capped, additional provision has been made in Budget 2021 of €3.5million – equivalent to an extra 700 places.
Furthermore, building on the success of the Youth Employment Subsidy Scheme (YESS), my Department is now at an advanced stage in developing a new work placement experience programme for those out of work for at least six months. This programme will seek to encourage businesses to provide jobseekers with the necessary workplace skills to compete in the labour market and to help break the vicious circle of “no job without experience, no experience without a job”. There is a target of over 10,000 persons, regardless of age, to be placed on this six-month scheme by end of this year. I expect to launch the Programme as soon as public health restrictions allow in 2021.
In discussing work placement programmes in it’s Policy Paper, the LMAC stated that “when accompanied by appropriate upskilling and training provision, these have the potential to provide skilled labour to struggling firms, while offering valuable work experience and retraining opportunities to jobseekers”. This is what I intend to achieve, by ensuring that training is an integral component of the new Work Placement Experience Programme.
Further to those measures outlined above, work is also at an advanced stage by my Department to develop Pathways to Work, the national employment services strategy for the period 2021-2025. This strategy - which represent a whole-of-government approach - will seek to build upon those support measures outlined above as we assist young people on their journey to work. Publication is expected in early 2021, following the launch of the Government's National Economic Plan.
In summary, the Council has been, and continues to be, a key vehicle in providing my Department and I with guidance on public policy responses that will continue to support our labour market recovery and assist us to retrain and re-employ all those whose employment has been disrupted by the pandemic, particularly our youth.
[1] LMAC Membership: https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/984411-members-of-the-labour-market-advisory-council/
[2] Policy Paper, ‘Preparing for Economic Recovery’: https://assets.gov.ie/78017/6a8ac31a-9a88-40df-85cf-71ff3a4fa4fa.pdf