THE Government is to announce an initiative today which will target the long term unemployed and early school leavers who have failed to find jobs. It will be proposing to reform the national employment service and make it more effective in placing people out of work for more than three years in a job.
The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, denied yesterday that the new system would be a form of work fare. He declined to discuss details of the scheme but said it would be building on the work and recommendations of the National Economic and Social Forum. The forum's ideas were already being incorporated in the Local Employment Service, he said, and there was a need to make the mainstream service more proactive as well.
About 6,000 people a month become unemployed. The vast majority find work within six months to a year. People unemployed for longer were in danger of becoming long term unemployed, Mr Bruton said. As well as targeting the long term unemployed, the new measures would target the younger cohort of 18 and 19 year olds.
He made his comments after addressing the Dublin Northside Partnership in Clonshaugh Industrial Estate, Coolock. The partnership has helped 2,200 people find productive employment over the past two years and Mr Bruton described it as a model for the future.
It taps into local employer, trade union and community networks to devise ways of helping unemployed people find jobs.
It also runs a commercial packing, labelling and assembly business in Coolock, called Speedpak, which provides unemployed people with a job for six to 12 months. Employees are assigned a mediator to help them adjust to the world of work and find outside employment.
The chairman of the partnership, Mr Padraic White, said the job placement rate for Speedpak employees was very high. A big part of the problem for long term unemployed was lack of a curriculum vitae. They did not want schemes, but real work experience.
At the same time, many employers were not looking for people who were highly qualified, but workers who were motivated and experienced in areas such as assembly and industrial work. Speedpak provided a return to the world of work.