Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

70. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons under 25 years of age in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in County Mayo; the number nationally; the steps her Department is taking to reduce youth unemployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48630/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Latest estimates from the CSO indicate that the unemployment rate for young people is 19 percent using the traditional measure rising to almost 26 per cent when we use the CSO’s COVID-19 adjusted measure for the month of August. The latter rate, which includes those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), has fallen sharply from its 2021 peak of 61 per cent in January.

This rate is expected to fall further in the September unemployment estimates to be released this week as 20,000 students, no longer eligible for PUP since last month, will no longer be included in the estimate. Full-time students are not traditionally included in unemployment estimates as they are not considered part of the labour force as they are generally not available for full time employment.

Thanks to the continued reopening of our economy and society, the number of young people on PUP has declined significantly, falling by 91% since the 2021 peak in February to just under 10,400 this week. Of these, 220 are in County Mayo, which represents 2 percent of all young persons on the scheme nationwide. I expect to see further reductions in these PUP numbers, as the final set of public health restrictions are eased later this month.

However, in order to minimise any scarring effects amongst young people who permanently lost their jobs due to the pandemic, my Department has introduced a series of targeted measures under the Pathways to Work strategy, including:

- Expanding the JobsPlus scheme to 8,000 places and enhancing the incentive to recruit young jobseekers in particular, by increasing the youth age limit from 25 to 30 years.

- The newly launched Work Placement Experience Programme, which is a 6-month, 30 hour per week voluntary work experience programme, for persons out of work for six months or more and has 4,000 places ring-fenced for young people.

- Ring-fencing at least 1,000 out of the 3,000 additional Community Employment and Tús places for long term unemployed young people.

- Ring-fencing at least 1,000 out of the 3,000 additional Community Employment and Tús places for long term unemployed young people.

My Department also works closely with the Further Education and Training sector to provide access to training, upskilling and reskilling opportunities that are of particular relevance to young people entering the labour market for the first time. As part of Pathways to Work 2021-2025, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science are providing an additional 50,000 further education and training places to help more people, including young persons, to have the opportunity to upskill and reskill. In addition, the Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme has been extended until the end of December 2021. This scheme provides financial supports for employers who register apprentices to a national apprenticeship scheme.

Using these measures, Pathways to Work 2021-2025 aims to reduce the youth unemployment rate back to or below the 2019 average of 12.5% by 2023.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.