Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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109. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which she and her Department has examined the age profile of those on the live register long term with a view to initiating measures to address the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11143/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Government’s approach to tackling the unemployment problem is to focus resources on those individuals most at risk of long-term unemployment with age being a significant determinant. The Department of Social Protection keeps a detailed breakdown of the profiles of jobseekers. Data on each client’s age, past occupation, and his/her education, is collected at the point of registration for job-seekers’ payment; these and other relevant data are processed and the probability of exiting the live register is calculated (PEX). This is essentially a predictor of whether or not someone will become long-term unemployed. The roll-out of the profiling system at the Department’s ‘one-stop-shop’ Intreo offices implicitly involves age profiling of the long-term unemployed, as age is one of the main determining variables in predicting if someone will become long-term unemployed. In other words, if someone is in an age category that is more likely to experience long-term unemployment, s/he will, all other things being equal, receive more targeted assistance.

In addition, the Youth Guarantee initiative is specifically aimed at those under 25 who are unemployed with specific targeting of those who are either long-term unemployed or are most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed. Summary statistical information on the clients’ age, duration of unemployment, and last held occupation together with other demographic and regional information is published on the Central Statistics Office website.