Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A commitment was given in Pathways to Work to develop and implement a programme of evaluations to assess the impact of the Pathways to Work initiatives. One of the first schemes selected for evaluation was JobBridge. The aim of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of the scheme in terms of its key objective of improving employment outcomes for unemployed jobseekers. The evaluation involves a number of elements including surveys of host organisation and participants to capture their perspective on and experience of JobBridge; an assessment of whether JobBridge might be displacing paid employment in the economy; and a comparison of employment outcomes of JobBridge participants matched to a control group of non-participants. The research is currently well advanced and I expect to receive an interim progress report towards the end of June and the final report in September.

The JobBridge scheme has been an effective labour market intervention to date. Some 15,000 interns went directly into paid employment immediately following a JobBridge internship. Independent research indicates that rose to 29,000 interns, or 61% of all participants after five months, compared to an average of 34% for comparable programmes in other European countries, so it is almost twice as effective.

I know people who took part in JobBridge and have benefited from it, but it was very much a scheme for its time, and I am planning to replace it with a more appropriate scheme. JobBridge was launched at a time of massive economic uncertainty and widespread unemployment. Companies were simply not hiring because they could not afford to recruit, and in many cases insisted on a minimum level of experience. However, large numbers of recent graduates and people who lost their jobs in the recession could not get the relevant workplace experience they needed to get a first or a new job. That crisis is now over, the economy is growing and employers are hiring again. The labour market has changed and new graduates are once again finding work.

Unemployment has fallen below 8% for the first time since the crash. Although the evidence is largely anecdotal, I am concerned at reports that some employers might be using JobBridge as an alternative to hiring new employees.

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On the other hand, I am very conscious that there are still many people who lost their jobs in the depth of the recession who are struggling to break back into the labour market and schemes like JobBridge can provide a valuable pathway to such citizens, in particular in instances where it is associated with a training programme. The Indecon review in September will provide an evidential basis upon which to consider what changes should be made to improve outcomes for jobseekers and value for money for the State.

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