ALMOST 30 per cent of participants in Community Employment (CE) schemes went on to full time employment in the first two years of the programme, and almost 20 per cent found part time jobs.
These are among the main findings of a report on CE prepared for the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton.
Of the remainder of CE participants, 71/2 per cent became self employed, 10 per cent entered full time training or education and 33 per cent returned to the dole.
These figures compare favourably with the CE programmes main predecessor, the Social Employment Scheme. The number of SES participants who went on the full time employment was below 20 per cent. Because of the low levels of training and skills imparted to SES participants, most of them returned to the dole. Interestingly, the SES programme performed so poorly that comprehensive figures have never been released.
The higher percentage of people finding jobs on CE is all the more remarkable given that there are 40,000 involved in the new programme compared with 20,000 a year under SES.
There are also far more women participating in CE schemes. In the first two years they comprised 36 per cent of the total, roughly the same as the number of women on the Live Register. Under the SES programme only 20 per cent of participants were women.
During the course of the two years, the number of participants on lone parent's allowance, again mainly women, increased dramatically from 4 per cent of the total to 9 per cent. Over the same period the percent age of participants who were on unemployment assistance fell from 83 to 77 per cent.
Recent changes to CE, based on recommendations from the Task Force on Long Term Unemployment, may see the balance shift back to the long term unemployed, an overwhelmingly male group. While the new arrangements allow for "spouse swapping" for instance the wife of a person who is long term unemployed can opt for a place on a CE scheme in place of her husband the take up rate has only been 2 per cent.
The report, prepared by the State training agency, FAS, which funds CE, also shows an increase in the range and size of CE projects. In the first year of operations, ending April, 1995, environment projects organised by local authorities accounted for 32 per cent of the total. But in the year ending April, 1996, their share fell to only 24 per cent.
In contrast, CE schemes covering the arts, culture, sports, education, social services and health care grew from 22 to 31 per cent. Schemes sponsored by community groups remained almost the same, at 44 per cent in the first year and 43 per cent in the second.
One worrying finding of the report is that many employers are still reluctant to recruit CE participants, particularly those on community and voluntary schemes. They feel that CE work does not constitute a real job.