Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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122. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the specific measures that her Department is taking to tackle youth unemployment. [18633/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, young people in the labour market (those under 25 years of age) can be particularly affected by labour market disruptions.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate for 2019 averaged approximately 12.5 percent. However, after the onset of the pandemic, the CSO’s ‘COVID-19 adjusted’ monthly youth unemployment rate – which included all those in receipt of the PUP – increased dramatically, peaking at almost 70 percent in May 2020.

Following the phased reopening of the economy over the latter half of 2021, most young people closed their PUP claims and returned to work, resulting in a strong decline in youth unemployment. As of April 2022, the youth unemployment rate stands at 5.6 percent, an historic low.

While it is welcome that the youth unemployment rate has declined to less than half of pre-pandemic levels, it is critical to continue to minimise potential scarring effects amongst young people who permanently lost their jobs during the pandemic, and to support young people who face difficulties or higher barriers to entry to the labour market.

Accordingly, my Department has a series of targeted employment supports under Pathways to Work2021-2025, the Government’s employment services strategy. These include expanding the JobsPlus scheme and enhancing the incentive to recruit young jobseekers by increasing the youth age limit from 25 to 30 years, and ring-fencing places on the Work Placement Experience Programme, Community Employment and Tús schemes for eligible young people.

My Department also works closely with the Further Education and Training sector to provide access to training and upskilling opportunities. As part of Budget 2022 andPathways 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 to have the opportunity to upskill for employment into a new sector.

Furthermore, my Department under Pathways to Workincreased funding for the Back to Education scheme which leads to second and third level qualifications and increased the maximum value of the Training Support Grant available via Intreo from €500 to €1,000.

These training and upskilling opportunities are likely to be of particular relevance to young people seeking to enter the labour market for the first time.