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Youth Unemployment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Questions (1098)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

1098. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection her engagement with the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in respect of the ways in which the issue of youth unemployment is being addressed; her plans to reduce the levels of youth unemployment here; and if her Department offers support and or assistance to business regarding mitigating youth unemployment (details supplied). [20785/21]

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Written answers

As the Deputy will be aware, the experience of past recessions indicates that youth employment tends to be significantly 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, the impact on our youth 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, seasonally adjusted youth unemployment (15-24 year olds) stood at just over 11 percent in December 2019. Latest estimates from the CSO however, show that by the end of March 2021, this figure had increased to almost 15 percent. This measure excludes those in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). Including all those in receipt of the PUP gives a COVID-19 adjusted unemployment rate estimate 59.2 percent for young people at the end of March 2021.

It is important to note that there are a significant number of PUP recipients who are students. As of end-March 2021, 47,000 PUP recipients have self certified as students, with almost 90 percent of these in the under 25 cohort.

Using international measures of unemployment, set by the International Labour Organisation, students are generally not counted as unemployed, as they are not considered part of the labour force. Therefore, the inclusion of recipients of PUP, including students, in the COVID-19 Adjusted measure of youth unemployment inflates this measure of unemployment.

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.

My Department engages on a regular basis with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment through a number of fora that address a range of labour market issues, including youth unemployment. These include the Labour Market Surveillance Group (LMSG), which was initially established to promote labour market intelligence sharing and collaboration in preparing for Brexit. Since the onset of the pandemic this group has expanded its remit to include the monitoring of the impacts of the pandemic on workers and employers. The LMSG, whose membership is drawn from across various Government Departments and State Agencies, including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment meets regularly to share labour market intelligence, discuss the latest policy developments and ensure co-ordinated responses at both national and regional levels.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment also forms part of the membership of the Labour Market Advisory Council on an ex-officio basis. The Advisory Council is comprised of leading labour market experts, representatives of industry, workers and unemployed people. The Advisory Council was convened in 2019 to provide advice to Government on employment and labour market issues.

In addition, in order to continue to strengthen and support the links between Intreo and the Further Education and Training (FET) sector, a High-Level Group has been established to engage on coordinated approaches to support jobseekers. This group includes membership from my Department, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, SOLAS, the Higher Education Authority, Skillnet Ireland and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

While many young people will be able to return to work once restrictions ease, 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.

Under the July Jobs Stimulus, my Department, along with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, are putting in place the following measures:

- 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). The expansion of this scheme thus helps make it more attractive for businesses 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.

- Facilitating access to the Back to Education Allowance and Back to Work Enterprise Allowance to those displaced by the pandemic and in receipt of the PUP, by waiving the usual qualifying period of 3-9 months.

My Department is at an advanced stage in developing a new Work Placement Experience Programme for those out of work for at least six months, regardless of age. This programme will seek to encourage businesses 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”. I expect to launch the Programme as soon as public health restrictions allow in 2021.

With regard to apprenticeships, the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 was launched this week by my colleague, Minister Harris. The Action Plan sets out a five-year strategy to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment of reaching 10,000 new apprentice registrations per year by 2025. The plan provides a roadmap to a single apprenticeship system and new supports for employers and apprentices, which will prove attractive for many young people.

All of these efforts to support young people back into employment will be bolstered further by Pathways to Work 2021-2025, which is currently being finalised by my Department. Pathways to Work, is the Government’s national employment services strategy. It will set out how an expanded Public Employment Service will utilise its existing and expanded capacity to deliver effective services in a post-COVID labour market. This whole-of-Government strategy will seek to build upon those support measures outlined above as we assist young people on their journey to work. Publication is expected following the launch of Government's National Economic Recovery Plan.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

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