Written answers

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Department of Social Protection

Youth Unemployment Measures

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

373. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans in respect of youth unemployment following the British Irish Council. [53720/13]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The British Irish Council meeting, held in Jersey on the 15th of November 2013, discussed the current economic situation in the Member Administrations with a particular focus on youth employment. The Council, building on its previous discussions on youth employment, exchanged views and examined progress on the various policy initiatives and programmes aimed at helping young people into employment in each Member Administration and reviewed the latest relevant statistics.

The Government’s primary medium-term strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. Past experience suggests that youth unemployment, which tends to rise relatively rapidly in a downturn, can be expected to fall relatively rapidly during the recovery. There is evidence that this is already occurring – Eurostat estimates that the seasonally-adjusted rate of youth unemployment has fallen from almost 31% in late 2011 to just under 25% at the end of 2013

In addition to promoting medium-term economic recovery, the Government recognises the need for interim measures to support the young unemployed and keep young jobseekers close to the labour market. To this end, youth unemployment is being specifically targeted through our Youth Guarantee initiative, which is being launched today.

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