John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

547. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 613 of 5 February 2019, timeframe for the publication of the econometric review of JobPath which was due to be published at the end of January 2019; if she has read the report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10503/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This evaluation of the JobPath public employment service is being carried out in the context of a partnership between my Department and the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

The final outputs of the project will be

(1) the publication of a DEASP report;

(2) the publication of a joint DEASP-OECD report which will present both further results and further enhancements to the evaluation methodology; and

(3) regular quarterly publication by my Department of updated outcome statistics for JobPath participants using the same methodology as in the published reports.

One of the features of JobPath is that any long-term unemployed jobseeker is potentially eligible for referral for as long as he or she remains unemployed.  As a result, the probability of being referred, as well as the likely employment outcome, changes over time.  This means that developing a counterfactual model to accurately estimate the impact of JobPath on participants' labour market prospects represents a significant technical challenge.

To address this challenge, my Department has developed a new extendable econometric modelling framework, in collaboration with the OECD. This framework represents a major step forward in terms of both the quality of the evaluation data and methodology, and the comprehensiveness of the outcome measures. Furthermore, the evaluation approach is designed to facilitate regular statistical updates on the outcomes of JobPath participants, and to enable the development of comparable reporting on other labour market programmes. The technical complexity of the project has meant a longer time to completion than first envisaged.

I understand my officials will present the evaluation report to me shortly, prior to its publication.