Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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414. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which the various jobs, training, internship or other similar opportunities remain to be availed of by those on the live register and or in receipt of job seeker's allowance; the extent to which experience indicates the success of the various schemes annually since their inception; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31633/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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415. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which provisions continue to be made to address the issue of long term unemployment; the number of individual cases satisfactorily addressed in this regard in each of the past three years to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31635/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Government’s primary strategy to reduce long-term unemployment has been through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. This strategy is working. Employment has risen by about 70,000 since the recovery began in 2012. Despite the progress that has been made on the jobs front, the Government acknowledges that unemployment remain unacceptably high. Hence, the Government also recognises the need for additional activation measures in the interim while the economy recovers. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy.

The most recent figures for participation on the main activation programmes are set out in the following table:

Activation Programmes (May 2013 and May 2014)

[2]This scheme was introduced from 1st May 2009. It provides immediate support for someone in receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit who wants to start a business.

[3] BTEA figures include all schemes but participants from JA & JB are not entitled to BTEA during the summer holidays. Includes MOMENTUM participants from February 2013.

Within this wide range of programmes and services to help jobseekers back to employment, the Department of Social Protection operates four main schemes whose purpose is to provide a pathway to employment:

- JobsPlus is targeted specifically at encouraging employers to recruit people who are long-term unemployed. Over 2,600 long-term unemployed people have been placed in employment as a result of JobsPlus and over 60% of these have been unemployed for 2 years or more;

- Community Employment and Tús provide work experience opportunities for long term unemployed jobseekers mainly within the community and voluntary sector. The numbers of participants on Community Employment and Tús as of May 2014 were 23,142 and 7,379 respectively up from 21,252 and 5,059 in May 2013;

- The JobBridge scheme provides a stepping stone for unemployed people to employment in the wider economy. As of the end of May there were just under 7,000 participants on the Scheme, up 14% from 6,137 in May 2013. To date nearly 30,000 people have participated in the scheme. Evaluation results indicate that 61% of leavers from JobBridge find employment within 5 months of leaving their internship;

With specific reference to the long-term unemployed, targets were set for participation by this group in DSP activation schemes and Department of Education and Skills Further Education and Training for 2013. Taken together approximately 80,462 places out of 263,788 were reserved for the long term unemployed in 2013. Progress in meeting this target is shown in the following table:

2013 Outturn

In terms of impact, there are definite signs of improvement in the labour market since the launch of Pathways to Work in 2012. Official figures from the CSO show that long-term unemployment has been falling over this period. Since the lowest point of the jobs crisis, the unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of over 15% to 11.6% at present while the long-term unemployment rate has fallen from 9.5% to 7.3%. The number of long-term unemployed has fallen from 204,000 in early 2012 to 156,000 at present. In terms of the Live Register, a target was set in Pathways to Work that 75,000 of those who were long-term on the Register at the beginning of 2012 would move into employment by the end of 2015; the number who have already done so is now almost 50,000.

The impact of Pathways to Work cannot be precisely separated from the impact of other factors affecting the decline in long-term unemployment (such as the general improvement in the economy and the labour market resulting from the government’s overall economic and employment policies). A full evaluation of the Pathways to Work programme will be commissioned next year which will seek to quantify what aspects of Pathways to Work are most effective and the reasons for their effectiveness.