JobPath Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Ceisteanna (1674)

Willie O'Dea

Ceist:

1674. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons, by age and length of unemployment, who have participated in JobPath in each year since it commenced in 2013, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1925/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection

As the Deputy will be aware, JobPath is an employment service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment.

The service was rolled out on a phased basis over the period mid-2015 to July 2016. The numbers referred initially were low but this has increased with almost 141,000 Jobseekers having commenced with the service by the end of December 2017.

For the purposes of the JobPath service all long-term unemployed jobseekers on the Live Register are categorised into groups based on their duration of unemployment (e.g. 1- 2 years, 2 – 3 years, 3 years plus etc.).

The duration of a person's Jobseeker's Allowance claim is recorded in terms of days of unemployment. Jobseeker Allowance claims are made up of continuous periods of unemployment. Any two such periods not separated by more than 52 weeks is considered to be the same continuous period of unemployment - this is known as linking the claims. Long-term jobseekers that may have left the live register to go into employment for less than a year are still considered to be long-term if they reopen their claim within that period: as a result, Jobseekers retain certain entitlements (for example, no waiting days and other supplemental benefits) and are available for selection for support through the departments activation services.

The table shows the age and length of unemployment of the circa 141,000 jobseekers who have engaged with the service as of the end of December 2017, of these in excess of 52% were over 3 years unemployed.

		Client age at Referral
Year	Duration on LR	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	55+	Total
	1-2 Years on LR	298	531	436	312	134	1711
	2-3 Years on LR	130	365	336	294	129	1254
2015	> 3 Years on LR	200	1006	958	969	490	3623
2015 Total		628	1902	1730	1575	753	6588
	Passing 12 Months on LR	466	562	445	306	124	1903
	1-2 Years on LR	3112	4290	3515	2841	1201	14959
	2-3 Years on LR	1529	2497	2160	1978	889	9053
	> 3 Years on LR	2774	10395	10139	9734	5249	38291
2016	Working Part Time on LR (>1 year)	21	235	295	271	162	984
2016 Total		7902	17979	16554	15130	7625	65190
	Passing 12 Months on LR	412	397	290	228	96	1423
	1-2 Years on LR	4315	4434	3499	2576	961	15785
	2-3 Years on LR	1683	1986	1613	1234	469	6985
	> 3 Years on LR	3254	9711	8187	7554	3321	32027
2017	Working Part Time on LR (>1 year)	628	3467	3691	3475	1612	12873
2017 Total		10292	19995	17280	15067	6459	69093
Grand Total		18822	39876	35564	31772	14837	140871