Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

2. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the achievements made by his Department in increasing the number of young persons in employment. [33596/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The economic crisis has had a severe impact on young people in Ireland and the rest of the EU. Youth training, progression to employment and unemployment among young people continue to present a major challenge for Ireland, as they do for most member states. The aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is to develop a supportive environment for enterprise to create and sustain jobs. All of the measures in the Action Plan are designed to promote employment. The Pathways to Work scheme provides opportunities for young people through further education and employment services. A range of new initiatives are in place in Ireland to support young people looking for employment, such as JobsPlus, JobBridge, Springboard, Momentum and the ICT action plan, which are delivered by the Departments of Social Protection and Education and Skills.

My Department, supported by its agencies, actively encourages enterprises to engage with specialist programmes designed to support young people in accessing employment opportunities. The agencies' focus is primarily on supporting enterprise development and job creation rather than specific age-related interventions. However, many of our interventions are closely aligned to new technologies and institutes of higher education where young entrepreneurs play an important role. We are also reviewing entrepreneurship policy and will be investigating the scope for special programmes to help young people to consider starting a business as a career choice. We will also work with the Department of Education and Skills to help refocus apprenticeship as an alternative progression route into employment for school leavers.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Yesterday at committee I mentioned to the Minister that the issue of jobs was a central platform of the Government when it stood for election in 2011. On every occasion Fine Gael has gone to the country in the past five or six years, be it for an election or referendum, the issue of jobs has been central. However, we are still struggling to deal with the issue of the creation of jobs. The quarterly national household survey states clearly that since the Government has come to power, there has been a reduction of 24,000 young people in the workforce. This net reduction is a very stark figure. There is a net reduction of 35,000 young people in the labour force since the Government has come to power.

These figures reflect the migration patterns here, where one third of the 87,000 people who left our shores because of the lack of jobs in the State were people under the age of 25. Some 30% of the population in this age bracket in this State is unemployed, the fifth highest level in the eurozone. Every time we speak about this, the Minister speaks of an ecosytem of projects and plans that are being put into place, yet he is failing miserably on the the key measure, the creation of jobs. This is a policy choice of the Government. Now that the Government is half way through its term should it not face up to the lack of growth in jobs and change its policy?

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Tóibín keeps repeating the myth that we are failing. In the past 12 months we have 20,000 additional people at work, net. If we remove from the equation the fact the public sector figures are declining, the private sector has expanded employment by 2,000 jobs per month. That is in sharp contrast to the economy we inherited where there was a loss of jobs of 7,000 per month. I recognise and it is clear that young people have been particularly adversely affected by the crash. The predominant share of the loss in employment occurred among young people. We must rebuild a sustainable economy and that is what we are doing. We are building an economy that is now supporting 20,000 additional jobs per year and we need to build further on that base.

I agree there is an unacceptably high level of youth unemployment. However, the 30% figure to whish the Deputy referred refers to 2012. The most up to date figure in that regard is now 26.7%. There has been an improvement. The improvement may not be enough, but it is an improvement in youth unemployment. The Deputy is correct that young people are not participating as early as previously in the labour market. There is definitely a drop in participation rates. This reflects changes. People are staying on in education and this is clear from statistics. People are staying out of the labour market to build extra skills.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Unemployment stabilised ten months before the Government came into power, but it has remained at the bottom since. The Minister can pick a couple of months here and there and use those statistics to try to argue in favour of his policies. However, from 2011 to 2013, the period of the Government's Administration, there has been a major net fall in the level of young people employed and in the level of those in the workforce. We have seen nothing substantial in regard to trying to sort that out. In the context of the youth guarantee, we called in committee for the Minister to ensure young people in the State would be guaranteed a job and opportunities for education and training. What is the Minister doing to guarantee those jobs for the young people who, because of the Government's economic policies, remain unemployed in the State?

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin seems to be of the view that it must talk down what is happening.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

These are the facts and figures.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Tóibín is picking facts selectively. Some 20,000 more people are at work today than there were 12 months ago and there are many employment programmes designed to help young people get such jobs. JobBridge has been very successful and has dealt with 17,000 young people, resulting in a 60% employment take-up from the programme. Springboard has also been exceptionally successful, with 6,500 people retrained and another 6,500 being retrained this year. These 13,000 people have been very successful at accessing employment opportunities in expanding companies.

The programmes that have been put in place by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, are having an impact and are helping young people. That is why we are seeing a reduction in the rate of unemployment among young people. We are not at a point where we are complacent about the situation, but we are at a place where we see the interventions we are putting in place are working. We also have an economy that is globally creating more employment. We must continue to work on this approach. We are on a path that is showing results and we need to strengthen that.

Last week we introduce JobsPlus, a new initiative designed to help new opportunities to be opened up for people, particularly young people, and to help them progress from community employment programmes and others into real employment opportunities.