Creating Policies that Work - Actions to Tackle Youth and Long-Term Unemployment

Today, I co-launched the Oireachtas Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Committee's report which aims to address the twin scourges of youth and long-term unemployment.

The cross-party report -  Creating Policies that Work; Actions to Address Youth and Long-Term Unemployment - recommends 35 policy actions that need to be taken in the short, medium and long term to tackle unemployment.


The Facts

Youth unemployment is Ireland is currently 29.9% and long-term unemployment accounted for 59.5% of those out of work in late 2012.

These figures also disguise challenges of poor literacy, structural unemployment, inadequate skills and concentrations of unemployment in certain areas.

For these reasons, we need more tailored approaches to these challenges.

The Report

Creating Policies that Work takes a three-pronged approach to the jobs crisis with recommendations which:

1) Keep young people and jobseekers engaged with the jobs market through work placement, training and education

2) Focus on securing funding for investment and job creation; and

3) Match jobseekers with suitable jobs, with the co-operation of the public and private sectors.

The report also breaks policy recommendation down into short, medium and long-term goals. The key recommendations that can be introduced in the short term are a Youth Guarantee, Social Clauses in public procurement contracts, a Part-Time Jobs Opportunity Programme (as recommended by Social Justice Ireland) and a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund.

I have championed several of these initiatives since I was elected and a decision is due very soon on funding for a pilot Youth Guarantee scheme in Ballymun. Also, Minister Howlin recently confirmed his commitment to examine the use of social clauses in public contracts.

I will be working -  in my capacity of vice-chair of the Jobs Committee  - to see that these 35 recommendations in Creating Policies that Work are considered and implemented by Government to complement existing initiatives like Pathways to Work and the Action Plan on Jobs.

More Information and Read the Report

You can read the full report online here.

Please also feel free to contact me on john.lyons@oir.ie or 01 618 3280 if you want to discuss the area of unemployment of give any feedback on the report's recommendations.

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