A WIDE range of schemes is targeted at the long-term unemployed, but often the details are not passed down to people in agencies on the ground, according to the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.
The INOU's labour market measures officer, Ms Maria Hegarty, told a conference in Dublin on "The Local Employment Service - A Vision for the Future?" yesterday that targeting "means going out to inform the long-term unemployed people of the existence and tangible benefits of these schemes.
"Nothing is more encouraging or motivating than seeing someone get the tangible benefits and move on to get a job."
Greater planning was needed at national level to ensure schemes were designed to meet the needs of the long-term unemployed. "Many of the programmes and schemes were announced without the apparent agreement of the relevant departments, knowledge of local personnel, agreement on administrative details or training for staff in offices which give information, advice and mediation services for unemployed people."
While the proliferation of schemes gave added choice to the unemployed, it also meant that personnel involved in providing them had to take in a lot more information. The most important issue was ensuring that Local Employment Schemes were adequately resourced so that they provided an effective "bridge" to employment.
The general secretary of the INOU, Mr Mike Allen, told the conference that although 1996 had been a boom year for car sales, foreign holidays, property investment and job creation, it had had little impact on the long-term unemployed. The creation of an effective employment service was the best route by which to ensure that some of the extra wealth being created flowed into deprived areas.
Where the new, full-time Job Initiative had been established, it had brought "a slight whiff of the new prosperity" to the homes of those involved. He called for the scheme to be significantly extended in today's Budget.