Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Young people have been the group most seriously affected by the collapse of employment following Ireland’s economic crash. However, youth employment has stabilised in the past year and appears set to start growing as the economic recovery continues. Recent labour market figures published by the CSO indicate that the number of young people under 25 years of age in employment increased by 3,200 in the year to quarter three 2013. The number of young people who are unemployed fell by 13,600 in the past 12 months.

The Government is working to tackle the issue of youth opportunities in the labour market through the combined efforts of the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work strategies. The Action Plan for Jobs has sought to bring about a transition in the jobs and enterprise sectors to develop new job opportunities in sustainable sectors and to create 100,000 jobs by 2016. This work will continue vigorously over the coming years. However, it is encouraging to see record growth of jobs in our exporting sectors and signs of progress across a range of sectors. It will be vital to sustain this growth in employment in order to deliver job opportunities to young entrants.

Through Pathways to Work, the Government has brought in a range of new initiatives to support young people looking for employment such as JobsPlus, JobBridge, Springboard, Momentum, and the ICT action plan, which are delivered by the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills. The Government is taking steps to increase the numbers of places and make other enhancements to those schemes where possible. For example, JobBridge has increased from 5,000 places initially to 8,500 places being currently available. The JobsPlus initiative, which is currently available to those who are unemployed for 12 months or more, is being extended from 1 January next to those under the age of 26 who have been unemployed for six months or more.

My Department, together with Enterprise Ireland, is also examining options for CEB-led initiatives aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship, including a mix of financial supports for business start-ups, feasibility studies and mentoring. It is also working with the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills to develop the Youth Guarantee, in line with the agreement reached under the Irish Presidency earlier this year.

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