Dara Calleary
Ceist:630. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Social Protection her policy on tackling long-term unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37416/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 18 September 2012
Ceisteanna (630)
Freagraí scríofa
The unemployment rate is currently 14.7% and while it has stabilised after several years of increases, the rate remains unacceptably high. It is of additional concern that long-term unemployment accounts for 61% of total unemployment, and for almost half of all unemployment among young people. In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle long-term unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economy recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity through the Action Plan for Jobs . Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth.
In addition to promoting economic recovery, the Government recognises the need for measures to support the long-term unemployed and keep jobseekers close to the labour market. Past experience suggests that, without such measures, long-term unemployment may fall more slowly than overall unemployment when strong economic growth returns.
In this context, the major elements of the Government’s response are set out in the Pathways to Work policy which is aimed at ensuring that as many as possible of the job vacancies that are created are filled by people from the Live Register, with a particular focus on those who are long term unemployed or at risk of long-term unemployment.
Pathways to Work
The Pathways to Work policy and the establishment of the new integrated National Employment and Entitlement Service (NEES) service will transform the nature and level of engagement between our employment and income support services and the unemployed. The policy is underpinned by five core strands which reflect the new integrated employment and income support services which are currently being established. Each of these strands places the customer at the centre of all the service’s activities, recognising their individual and specific needs. The strands provide for: transforming and reforming the employment and income support services institutions to deliver better services to the unemployed through an integrated approach; more regular and on-going engagement with people who are unemployed through active case management and profiling. There were over 87,000 referrals of unemployed welfare recipients to the employment service in the first eight months of 2012; greater targeting of activation places and opportunities by providing for over 85,000 places on initiatives such as Job Bridge – the National Internship Scheme, Tús, the Rural Social Scheme and the Jobs Initiative; incentivising the take up of opportunities by the unemployed; creating and enhancing relations with employers through incentivising the provision of opportunities for people who are unemployed. One such measure is the Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme.
The Pathways to Work policy sets very ambitious targets to be achieved over the next three years; to ensure that 75,000 of those long term unemployed will move into employment by 2015; to reduce the average time spent on the live register from 21 months to less than 12 months; to ensure that employers have access to and are offered suitable candidate to fill full time vacancies and that the proportion of vacancies filled by the Department’s employment services from the Live Register is at least to 40% by 2015; to ensure that each person in receipt of a jobseeker payment fulfils their personal responsibility to engage fully with the employment and training supports provided by the State as a pre-condition for recipe of their welfare payments.
Education & Training
The Government has also taken various initiatives to allow those who are out of work to up-skill through the education and training system. The most prominent schemes in this regard are the Back to Education Allowance and the Springboard Initiative. In the 2010/2011 academic year there were 25,000 participants on the Back to Education Allowance scheme, with similar numbers expected for 2011/2012. Springboard offers a choice of free courses in higher education from certificate, to degree, to post-graduate level. All courses lead to qualifications in enterprise sectors which are growing and need skilled personnel. Participants on Springboard courses retain their social welfare payments. Sixty-per cent of Springboard participants have been unemployed for more than twelve months and one third of those for more than 24 months. Over 3,500 people are due to graduate this month from the first round of Springboard programmes, which were put in place in 2011 and an additional 6,000 places are being made available for this academic year.
The State is also providing a wide range of vocational training options outside of the mainstream education system that are closely aligned to the needs of the labour market. Specific Skills Training courses are employment-led and lead to qualifications that offer learners both generic and advanced skills. The expected outcomes are progression to employment in the occupational field or to further and higher education/training and the achievement of certification from levels 5 – 7 in the National Qualifications Framework. The training system also provides Apprenticeships and Traineeships which entail significant skill requirements best acquired through a combination of alternating periods of on and off-the-job training. There were some 27,000 participants on these three FAS programmes in 2011. The Government is prioritising places on training courses for those who have been on the Live Register for 12 months or more.
In addition to these programmes, the Government is providing €20 million from the National Training Fund for a new Labour Market Education and Training Fund for the long-term unemployed. This fund, which will be specifically targeted at the long-term unemployed, will deliver upwards of 6,500 training places provided by the private sector on a competitive-tender basis.