Written answers

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Department of Social Protection

Job Losses

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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333. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the prevalent skill or educational standards of employees in areas of major job losses over the past four years; if any particular skill levels were more affected by job losses than others; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19000/13]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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At a sectoral level, the largest job losses over the 2008-2012 period were in the construction sector, where employment fell by over 160,000, in manufacturing (down by almost 50,000) and retail and wholesale distribution (down by over 40,000). Smaller falls were recorded across a range of other service industries. By contrast, at the end of 2012, employment in two sub-sectors - healthcare and the information/communications sector - were above the levels of 2007/2008.

Driven primarily by these sectoral trends, the occupations most affected by the down turn were the skilled trades, where employment fell by about 140,000. The sharp contraction in construction and manufacturing also partly explains the fall of 60,000 in the unskilled or “elementary” manual occupations, which contain a sizeable number of unskilled construction workers. Smaller but nonetheless significant declines have occurred for clerical and secretarial jobs (down by 50,000) and for sales and transport occupations affected by the fall in distribution (down by 50,000). By contrast, professional workers, associate & technical professionals and managers actually experienced slight increases over the course of the recession. The number of science/engineering professionals and technicians, for example, rose by 16,000 between 2008 and 2012.

When broken down by highest education level achieved, employment for those with at best a Leaving Certificate or Post Leaving Certificate qualification fell by almost 370,000 between 2007 and 2012 whereas employment for persons with a third-level qualification rose by over 100,000. These changes reflect the rapid growth in the numbers of people with higher qualifications in the overall population as well as changes in employment prospects for those with various qualifications. The employment rate (percentage of the adult population with jobs) fell for all groups between 2007 and 2012; however, the rate for those with third-level fell by about 6 percentage points, from 85% to 79%, while that for those with Leaving Certificate or PLC qualifications fell by 15 percentage points, from 75% to 60%, and those with lower qualifications saw even greater reductions, of the order of 18 percentage points.

As a result of the downturn, the unemployment rate has risen significantly for persons with lower levels of education. For persons with at most primary education, the unemployment rate increased from10.3% to 27.8% between 2008 and 2012. For persons with a best a lower secondary education unemployment rate increased from 10.6% to 25.5% and for persons with a best a Leaving Certificate the unemployment rate increased from 6.7% to 16.9%. By contrast, the unemployment rate for those with honours degrees was relatively lower, at 6.5%, in 2012.

In recognition of the skills gap among the unemployed people, the Government operates a number of initiatives to allow those who are out of work to up-skill through the education and training system. These include the Back to Education Allowance (26,000 people), Springboard (6,000 people) and Momentum (6,500 places). Eligible participants on both Springboard and Momentum programmes retain their welfare payments made through my Department.

These special initiatives are in addition to the existing range of full-time vocational training options provided through FÁS that are closely aligned to the needs of the labour market. Specific Skills Training courses are employment-led and lead to qualifications that offer learners both generic and advanced skills. The expected outcomes are progression to employment in the occupational field or to further and higher education/training and the achievement of certification from levels 5 - 7 in the National Qualifications Framework. FÁS also provides Traineeships which entail significant skill requirements best acquired through a combination of alternating periods of on and off-the-job training, as well as foundation courses for those who require them prior to going on to skills training. There were some 21,000 participants on these three FAS programmes in 2012. FÁS has also expanded provision of free part-time and evening courses for unemployed people in recent years, and a further 21,000 people took such courses in 2012. The Government is prioritising places on training courses for those who have been on the Live Register for 12 months or more.

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