AROUND 100,000 part-time jobs could be created quickly using a pilot part-time work scheme, according to the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) Justice Commission's report.
Presenting the CORI submission to the Select Committee on Social Affairs yesterday, Father Sean Healy said 437,000 jobs were needed to create full employment. However only one in 16 new jobs was going to the long term unemployed. Almost half of the jobs on the CORI part-time work scheme had been filled by people unemployed for three years or more.
A CORI pilot scheme in six areas had created 1,000 part4ime jobs by paying social welfare plus a top up amount to people taking work. He said this scheme could be extended to create up to 100,000 jobs at a cost that would be less than the one year increase in the public sector pay bill.
The CORI report recommends a radical rethink of the social welfare and tax systems.
