JobBridge internship scheme needs ‘significant reform’

The controversial JobBridge scheme requires significant reform if it is to provide participants with a worthwhile experience that will help them secure employment, according to a new report by the National Youth Council of Ireland.

The study reveals that the national internship scheme, which was introduced in 2011, has helped young people gain valuable work experience and provide networking opportunities. It also shows however that as well as experiencing financial difficulties, participants report insufficient mentoring and a lack of clarity regarding intern rights and responsibilities.

"The findings of this research are mixed, while a majority of participants were satisfied following participation, the research identified a number of deficiencies and a lack of quality. These range from poorly designed internships, inadequate mentoring, instances of unacceptable treatment of interns and lack of rights and clarity on rights. Other issues which emerged included insufficient monitoring, job displacement and inadequate income support. We are also concerned that only 27 per cent secured full-time employment," said the council's deputy director James Doorley.

“JobBridge is providing valuable work experience for some and supporting others into employment: overall, however, the scheme is lacking in quality. As the scheme is being operated by the state and funded by the taxpayer to the tune of €85 million a year, we should demand and expect much higher standards and much better results,” he added.

According to the report, which is based on interviews with young people who have been on JobBridge schemes, 57 per cent of participants said they were satisfied with their internship, while 45 per cent would recommend the scheme to other jobseekers. Almost 70 per cent of participants said JobBridge had given them valuable work experience, but 44 per cent agreed that the internship was used for free labour.

Almost a quarter of JobBridge participants said they were not treated like other team members by the host organisation during the internship.

While 27 per cent of survey respondents said they had secured full-time employment after participating on the internship scheme, 31 per cent remained unemployed after it ended, while 14 per cent secured part-time employment following their participation.

There was a 100 per cent dissatisfaction rating among participants who were forced to join JobBridge by the Department of Social Protection, the study reveals.

Up to January 2015, there have been 36,434 participants in the scheme , of whom 10,125 were under 25 years of age. As many as 45 per cent of the 65,686 positions advertised have never been filled.

The study reveals that 376 host organisations have taken on 10 or more interns over the lifetime of the scheme.

The National Youth Council made a number of recommendations to reform and revise the JobBridge initiative. These include doubling the existing top-up pay to €100 per week, restricting the scheme to host organisations and sectors where progression to employment is high and reforming the current monitoring scheme by moving away from a checklist approach and towards a focus on quality of internships.

The council also called for immediate action to close loopholes that are facilitating abuse of the cooling-off period and leading to job displacement.

In addition, it urged the Department of Social Protection to abandon proposals to introduce the “First Steps” programme, which is a variant of JobBridge that would be mandatory for some young unemployed people

“As the economy grows and employment recovers it is vital that we provide jobseekers quality work experience opportunities. It is also crucial that schemes such as JobBridge do not lead to job displacement and undermine the availability of the entry level jobs that many young people depend on to start their career. We must ensure that JobBridge is a stepping stone into employment and not just another dead end,” said Mr Doorley.