Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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60. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection in view of the increase in youth unemployment from 19.9% to 20.2% to set out the impact of the new measures introduced by her Department to address the urgent need to accommodate the young people of Ireland in the workforce; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33524/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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74. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to set out the extent to which youth unemployment is being specifically targeted and alleviated, unilaterally and with the help of the European Union institutions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33636/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 74 together.

Notwithstanding some variation in unemployment from month to month, over the past three years youth unemployment has been significantly reduced. From a peak of 31.2% in June 2012, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate has fallen to 20.7% as of August, reflecting the impact of government policy and the overall improvement in the labour market.

The Government’s primary strategy to tackle youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. However, the Government recognises that as the recovery takes hold, there is a need for additional measures to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs created are taken up by unemployed jobseekers and, in accordance with the EU Council Recommendation for a Youth Guarantee, by young jobseekers in particular. This is the rationale behind the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy and the Youth Guarantee implementation plan.

As Ireland already had many of the recommended component parts of a Youth Guarantee under services such as Intreo, Youthreach, VTOS, PLC programmes and JobBridge the main plank in Ireland is to prioritise access to these existing supports for young people, who become unemployed, with the objective of ensuring that they have an opportunity for employment, further education or work experience within the recommended period of four months as per the EU council recommendation.

In this regard our first intervention is to provide case officer support to help newly unemployed young people find and secure sustainable jobs. Accordingly operating processes are being refined in each of our regions to prioritise the early engagement of young people through Intreo to ensure that all young people receive expert advice and have access to progression options. In addition as part of our commitment to engage with 100,000 long-term unemployed people through the Intreo/JobPath process during 2015 we are prioritising engagement with the c 25,000 young people who are already long term unemployed. In implementing these processes DSP making extensive use of the services of Local Employment Services and Job Clubs.

For those who do not find employment through the process just described, additional offers are provided for. Most such offers (over 70%) are in existing further education or training programmes. Others are in existing community-based employment programmes such as CE, Gateway and Tús. Overall, over 23,300 opportunities were taken up on the relevant programmes in 2014.

In addition we have recently introduced new programmes specifically for young people including JobsPlus youth – an employment subsidy for unemployed people under 25 years of age which is payable after four months of unemployment, and First Steps – a work experience programme for very disadvantaged young people. It should be noted that some of the initiatives planned under the Guarantee required primary legislation to allow positive discrimination on age grounds in the provision of employment services and supports.

Given the recent introduction of changes systemised data is not readily available on employment outcomes on all programmes specifically for those jobseekers under 25. However, some indicative figures are available. For example,

- a follow-up survey, published by SOLAS in 2013 of FÁS Trainees who exited training in May/June 2012, found that 36% of full-time trainees under 25 had gained employment.

- An Indecon report surveyed JobBridge interns who had finished their internships by end August 2012. The survey indicated that 39% of young participants progressed into employment immediately on completion of the internship and that the proportion in employment rose to about 60% five months after completion. Analysis of administrative data on those under 25 who have completed a JobBridge internship more recently shows a similar progression rate to employment immediately on completion of the internship, at 37%.

- JobsPlus provides subsidies to employers for the full-time employment of those formerly long-term unemployed on the Live Register. Currently there are 4,901 participants benefitting from JobsPlus, 664 (13.5%) of whom are under 25. It is too early to know what might be the employment outcomes once the JobsPlus subsidy expires.

The Department of Social Protection has initiated an extensive impact evaluation programme which will assess, using counterfactual econometric methods, the impacts of programmes and processes on employment outcomes. This will include the longer-term employment outcomes for young jobseekers under 25.