An advisory body to the Government will urge radical reform of the way the State spends €1 billion on welfare supports and other measures aimed at helping people back into the workplace, in a report to be published this week.
The National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) study will say there is large scope for improving the value and effectiveness of tackling unemployment more successfully if sweeping changes are made to policies, institutions and measures in this area.
While unemployment rates are relatively low, long-term unemployment accounts for more than one-third of the total unemployed, compared to 21 per cent in the UK and 18 per cent in Sweden.
Research undertaken for the report indicates that unemployment blackspots, far from being an aberration from the early 1990s, are being replicated today even in a tight labour market.
There are still more than 80 unemployment blackspots where jobless rates are three times the national averages, while one in eight young people leaves school early and faces average unemployment rates of 18 per cent.
Among the proposals in the NESF report, aimed at supporting the reintegration of vulnerable people into employment, are:
A national strategy to co-ordinate employment and social inclusion measures that are shared between eight Government departments and 13 different agencies at a cost to the State of €1 billion a year
Fundamental reform of State supports to tackle work disincentives, including the automatic payment of in-work payment support for people with children taking up low-paid work
Free fees for part-time students engaged, for the first time, in taking occupationally relevant courses resulting in certificates, diplomas and primary degrees
A formula for the sharing of workplace training costs for the up-skilling of all low-skilled workers between the State, employers and trade unions. The initial focus should be on the 35,000 young people with low qualifications who left school early and are now at work
Greater focus on the "serious ongoing problem" of early school leaving, with a more coherent range of policies within disadvantaged areas and sufficient funding for Educational Welfare Boards
A fairer immigration system which helps both to meet Ireland's future skills needs and to ensure longer-term support measures (such as education, housing and healthcare) are put in place to prepare for migrant workers and their families
A review by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment into why the €70 million being directed at training and support for disabled people is not more effective or successful.
Overall, the report says that there is a strong business case to be made for developing a more equal and opportunity-driven labour-market approach, which would lead to a more productive and a higher-qualified labour force.
This will be increasingly important in helping to sustain our ongoing social and economic development at a time when the growth in the domestic labour force is predicted to fall from 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
Such an approach would lead to a more productive, higher qualified labour force, and help in turn to make firms more competitive against other best performing economies which Ireland is competing against.
