Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
76. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the number of persons currently in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in County Wicklow; the steps she is taking with regard to engaging with local employment services in the county to reduce the figure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48601/21]
View answerThe Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was introduced as an exceptional measure in response to the unprecedented impact on employment and earnings as a result of Government mandated public health measures.
There are currently 2,978 customers in Co. Wicklow in receipt of the PUP. This is a reduction of 84% from the peak in May 2020 when 18,629 people in Co. Wicklow received the PUP.
While many people who have been receiving the PUP are returning to employment as restrictions ease and the economy re-opens, 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’s Activation teams of Case Officers and Job Coaches are supporting PUP recipients and the Local Employment Service in Bray, Co. Wicklow continues to support jobseekers in that location who are long term unemployed. 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. For example, during August and September all long term PUP customers in County Wicklow were contacted by phone to determine if they needed support in returning to work and my officials responded to the requests for support and information that this elicited.
Throughout the pandemic my Department has been assisting employers with vacancies as the economy reopened by matching vacancies to relevant jobseekers via email notifications, pre-recorded recruitment videos featuring employers and the hosting of live recruitment events.
Last month my Department hosted a 6-day series of online recruitment events, which were available to all PUP recipients in Co. Wicklow, featuring 30 employers with over 1,000 live vacancies. Many sectors of the economy were covered including construction, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, sales and customer service. Many large-scale companies took part including Amazon, Ryanair, McDonalds, Circle K, Butlers Chocolates, DID Electrical, Musgraves, Accenture and public sector employers. One of these events focussed on training and education opportunities currently available. People on the Live Register and people on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment were invited to attend these events. In total 12,217 individuals participated in these events. Feedback to date from employers and jobseekers has been positive and recruitment for the positions available is continuing.
A further series of events is being planned for Co. Wicklow clients for the remainder of the year to include regular vacancy alerts for jobseekers, live and pre-recorded recruitment events as well as events to highlight training and upskilling opportunities. These events and information sessions will be available to both jobseekers on the Live Register and Pandemic Unemployment Payment customers.
As outlined under the Government’s ‘Economic Recovery Plan’, which was launched on June 1st 2021, a central focus of the recovery process will be on helping people get back to work, training or education by extending labour market supports, and through intense activation and skills opportunities. Pathways to Work 2021-2025 is a key delivery mechanism of the Economic Recovery Plan’s second Pillar on ‘Helping People Back into Work’.In supporting people back into employment the Pathways to Work 2021–2025 strategy seeks to minimise any long-term scarring effects of the pandemic on the labour force for those whose jobs are permanently lost while providing support to those unemployed pre-pandemic. The strategy also sets out how an expanded Public Employment Service will utilise its existing and expanded capacity to deliver effective services in a post-COVID labour market with an overall target of increasing the caseload capacity by 100,000 per annum.Some of the key supports form part of Pathways to Work and the Economic Recovery Plan include:
- Expanding the JobsPlus scheme to 8,000 places and enhancing the incentive to recruit young jobseekers in particular, by increasing the youth age limit from 25 to 30 years.
- Accelerating rollout of an additional 50,000 education and training places to support jobseekers to upskill and reskill for the labour market.
- A new Government Youth Employment Charter for intensive engagement with young jobseeker which will build on the new EU Reinforced Youth Guarantee.
- A new work placement scheme is open to all people regardless of age and should be particularly attractive to and beneficial for young people requiring work experience.
My Department works closely with the Further Education and Training sector, including the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (ETB), to provide access to training, upskilling and reskilling opportunities. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science also last week announced the extension of the Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme until the end of December 2021. This scheme provides financial supports for employers who register apprentices to a national apprenticeship.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
