Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I should first note that we have reached another milestone today in getting people back to work. There are now 1.983 million people at work and the unemployment rate has fallen below 9% to 8.9%. As a consequence of the very significant increase in the number of people at work, we now have more tax revenue and greater capacity to invest, as announced, in primary and secondary schools across the country.

JobPath is a new approach to employment activation which is supporting people who are long-term unemployed. The long-term unemployment rate today has fallen to 5%. We have made very good progress for those most distant from the labour market in securing and sustaining full-time paid employment. Participants in JobPath will receive intensive individual supports to help them to address barriers to employment and assist them in finding jobs.

Each person is assigned to a personal adviser who will assess his or her skills, experience, challenges and work goals. A personal progression plan will be drawn up that will include a schedule of activities, actions and job-focused targets. Participants are also provided with a range of training and development supports, including online modules, career advice, curriculum vitae, CV, preparation and interview skills. They will spend a year on JobPath and if they are placed in a job, they will continue to receive support for at least three months and up to 12 months while in employment.

JobPath is one of the range of activation supports, including schemes such as community employment, CE, and Tús, which cater for long-term unemployed jobseekers. In general - JobPath is not an exception - it is not possible for clients to participate in two separate schemes at the same time. In addition, given the need to manage the allocation of places effectively, the Department does not facilitate or encourage jobseekers to leave one scheme early in order to take up a place on another. This approach is particularly relevant in the case of JobPath, whereby providers are paid on the basis of outcomes. It is important that service providers have the opportunity and time to achieve the outcome, which is to help the jobseeker to secure and sustain full-time employment. However, jobseekers can be referred to relevant education, training modules and the like.

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