Written answers

Thursday, 4 April 2019

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

JobPath Data

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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20. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons referred to JobPath since 2015; the number of those that have commenced employment which has been sustained for 12 months or more; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15637/19]

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The primary purpose of JobPath is to provide a case management based, employment advice and counseling service to long term unemployed jobseekers.  This is the group of jobseekers that faces the most significant barriers to entering full-time employment.

Between July 2015 and March 2019, some 216,546 jobseekers had commenced their engagement period with the JobPath service.  Of this number, 52% were over three years unemployed and a further 10% were over two years unemployed.  These groups face significant barriers when seeking to enter or return to employment in the open labour market.

Some 48,792 had commenced employment during their engagement period with almost 13,000 sustaining full time employment for a period of 12 months or more.

It should be noted that these figures are representative of the entire cohort of JobPath clients to date and all job starts in the same period.  Many clients who are still currently engaged with JobPath are in the first phase of the service and have not spent sufficient time with the service to have gained employment or sustain that employment for up to 52 weeks.

Between July 2015 and the end of December 2017 - a time period where the full impact of JobPath and job sustainment can now be measured - 146,776 jobseekers, mostly more than two years unemployed, had engaged with the JobPath service of whom 37,522 (23%) had commenced employment.  To date 12,711 of these clients (34% of those who started employment) have sustained full time employment for a period of 12 months or more.  These employment start and sustainment rates are significantly higher than the historical counterfactual level prior to JobPath employment progression rates for this group - even during periods of economic growth - were as low as 9%.

Job sustainment performance across the entire cohort is expected to improve as more clients complete their engagement with the service and have the opportunity to reach 52 weeks in sustained employment.

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