Dáil debates

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Other Questions

National Internship Scheme Administration

3:05 pm

Photo of Kevin HumphreysKevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

JobBridge is a national scheme which was introduced in July 2011 in response to the unprecedented collapse in the economy, particularly the sharp increase in unemployment. As the Deputy will remember, we were heading to have nearly 500,000 people unemployed and an unemployment rate from the live register of 15.1%. Thankfully, the figures today are much more positive and moving in the right direction. It was announced today that the unemployment rate had reduced to 8.9%, dipping below 9% for the first time, something Members opposite said on many occasions we would not see in the lifetime of this Dáil, but we have. This is very much down to the Government targeting a job-led recovery.

The primary aim of the scheme is to give unemployed people the opportunity to secure work experience and then to access work. It comes down to the old saying, it is necessary to break the cycle whereby one cannot get a job without work experience but one cannot get experience without a job. So many young people and others who lost their jobs during the recession have said constantly to me that they could not get back to work unless they could get experience. JobBridge has allowed that to happen.

To date, the scheme has attracted the voluntary participation of more than 44,000 people. It is very much voluntary participation. A total of 18,000 host organisations are involved on a voluntary basis. They offered a wide range of work experience opportunities. Currently, there are more than 4,800 people on internships. Approximately 36% of participants progress into paid employment immediately on completion of their placement. The independent evaluation of JobBridge by Indecon found that the figure rises to more than 61% within five months of completion of an internship. Those progression outcomes are the highest of any general employment or training programme offered by the State and compare favourably with similar programmes in other countries.

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