Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 October 2014
39. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the extent to which she expects job creation efforts in the future to focus on the long term and youth unemployed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39641/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government’s primary strategy to reduce unemployment has been through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth.
The Government also recognises the need to ensure that particular groups, such as the long-term unemployed and young people, share in the recovery and take up as many as possible of the newly-created jobs. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy and the Youth Guarantee.
Pathways to Work includes a wide range of programmes and services to help jobseekers back to employment. These include programmes such as JobBridge, JobsPlus and Momentum introduced by this Government and schemes such as Community Employment and TÚS where we have significantly increased the number of places available. Pathways to Work 2015 also includes arrangements to increase the level of systematic engagement of the employment services with those who are out of work for long periods.
If job creation is to benefit the long-term unemployed (including those under 25), a greater effort has to be made to convince employers that the profile of skills and experience among people on the Live Register is not only very diverse but is also very deep.
As part of Pathways to Work 2015, the Government has mandated a set of actions designed to inform employers of the talent available and to incentivise them to access this talent. These include:
- Establishing a professional account management and sales capability within Intreo targeted at employers.
- Development and implementation of a communications campaign to promote greater take-up of employment supports/subsidies for the long-term and youth unemployed.
- Building on the protocol with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Employment Offices to further develop information sharing, common literature, early identification of employment opportunities, profiling, placement and encouragement the development of networks at local level to match enterprise agency client company needs with clients from the Live Register
- Engaging with Irish Recruitment companies, to ensure that they use JobsIreland.ie as part of their normal process for finding candidates.
- Improving services at Intreo Offices through the introduction of a new employer vacancy/job matching system in 2015.
In addition, the Labour Market Council Sub-Group for Employer Engagement has developed and recently launched the Employer and Youth Activation Charter, which commits employers to prioritising recruitment of candidates from the Live Register and to working with unemployed jobseekers and jobseeker support organisations to assist in developing the skills and competencies required to find employment. It is intended that the Charter will initially be signed by the 200 largest companies in the State who will then be able to use the skills of the unemployed/long- term unemployed.
The Labour Market Council has also supported the Department in a number of activities to build relationships with employers including briefings and consultations with employer stakeholder groups, job fairs, the production and distribution of employer-focused promotional materials, direct engagement with employers at national and regional level, the development and launch of new employer recruitment incentives and the design and implementation of bespoke training and recruitment solutions. This has, inter alia, served to raise employer awareness about initiatives, such as JobsPlus and JobBridge. In the case of JobsPlus, over half the persons recruited through this employer subsidy scheme have been out of work for more than two years.
With specific regard to youth unemployment, the Government will be implementing the Youth Guarantee to ensure that young people are supported and positioned to benefit from the recovery in employment. The Youth Guarantee will, inter alia, involve:
- earlier and faster engagement for young people under Intreo;
- new options under JobBridge for the most disadvantaged cohort of young people;
- new options under the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy scheme to accelerate the entry to work of young people.
When taken together, these initiatives will increase the potential for job-creation to lead to employment gains for the long-term and young unemployed.
