The onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic and resulting public health measures, has greatly impacted economic activity in the State and the labour market. The latest CSO data for April 2021, recorded a COVID-19 adjusted overall unemployment rate of 22.4 percent. It is important to note that this COVID-19 Adjusted estimate is considered to be the upper bound estimate and includes all those in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
While many have been displaced from their employment by the pandemic, most of those currently in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will return to employment as restrictions ease and the economy re-opens. However, it is inevitable that some jobs will be permanently lost, and additional numbers of persons will require State support to find new jobs transitioning back to work.
My Department is supporting initiatives to assist people to get back to work, as 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). Time spent in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment can be counted for the purposes of eligibility for all unemployed individuals.
Facilitating access to the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) and Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) to those displaced by the pandemic and in receipt of PUP, by waiving the usual qualifying period of 3-9 months.
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.
Increasing the funding available to all PUP recipients through the Training Support Grant from €500 to €1,000. The grant is designed to support quick access to short-term training where the training is not delivered by a State provider.
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 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”. I expect to launch the Programme in the near future.
Initiatives to further support those whose employment are displaced by COVID-19 will be included in Pathways to Work Strategy 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. Publication is expected in the coming weeks, following the launch of the Government's Economic Recovery Plan.
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
