Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the pathways to work scheme is successful in targeting youth unemployment; if it is being used by young people; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54110/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Pathways to Work policy and the establishment of the new integrated National Employment and Entitlement Service (Intreo) service will transform the nature and level of engagement between our employment and income support services and the unemployed, including those under the age of 25. The policy is underpinned by five core strands which reflect the new integrated employment and income support services which are currently being established. Each of these strands places the customer at the centre of all the service’s activities, recognising their individual and specific needs. The strands provide for:

- Transforming and reforming the employment and income support services institutions to deliver better services to the unemployed through an integrated approach.

- More regular and on-going engagement with people who are unemployed through active case management and profiling. There were over 87,000 referrals of unemployed welfare recipients to the employment service in the first eight months of 2012.

- Greater targeting of activation places and opportunities by providing for over 85,000 places on initiatives such as Job Bridge – the National Internship Scheme, Tús, the Rural Social Scheme and the Jobs Initiative.

- Incentivising the take up of opportunities by the unemployed.

- Creating and enhancing relations with employers through incentivising the provision of opportunities for people who are unemployed. One such measure is the Employer Job (PRSI) Incentive Scheme.

Registering with Employment Services gives job-seekers access to guidance interviews, job search assistance, and referral to training courses, as well as self-service job-seeking options. In terms of job search assistance, some 17,000 young people registered with Employment Services this year up until September 2012, representing 37% of all registrants.

Under the National Employment Action Plan (EAP) persons between the ages of 18 and 65 years who are approaching 3 months on the Live Register are identified by the Department of Social Protection and referred to Employment Services for interview with the aim of assisting them to enter/re-enter the labour market. Last year, there were 35,400 referrals of under 25s to the EAP, affecting approximately 25,000 individual jobseekers (those who do not attend initially are referred again). Of those referred, 62% of clients had signed off the Live Register by the end of the year. For the first eight months of this year, there were 23,700 referrals affecting 18,300 young jobseekers. The EAP process is being changed on a progressive basis across the country to one where referral will take place immediately on becoming unemployed for those identified, through profiling, as being at greatest risk of remaining unemployed for long periods – and this will include targeting young people at risk of long-term unemployment.

Through the registration and referral process, young people access a wide range of programmes aimed at supporting them in their job search and increasing employability. For example, over 12,000 young people were trained on the main FÁS programmes for unemployed people in 2011, while a further 1,700 benefitted from a specific measure for redundant apprentices. Almost 5,000 previously unemployed young people went back to further or higher education with financial support under my Department’s Back to Education Allowance scheme.

In addition, there are a number of schemes/programmes available that are focussed on work experience. The most relevant for young people are JobBridge (the National Internship Scheme), and its predecessor the Work Placement Programme. Over 1,500 young people are currently participating on these schemes. The total number of placements of young people on JobBridge during its first year of operation was 2,600. Young people also benefit from the reduced rate of employer’s PRSI, the purpose of which is to support job creation, as well as from the impact of Revenue Job Assist and the Employers PRSI Incentive Scheme.