National Employment Week In Dublin Launches

The Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, has officiated at the launch of National Employment Week in Dublin's Mansion House.

National Employment Week, organised by Sigmar Recruitment, is a forum focusing on the major social and economic issues surrounding employment in Ireland. The focus of the morning’s proceedings was the Youth Guarantee Scheme.

Minister Burton said: "We are making firm progress in helping people back to work. Overall unemployment has fallen from a peak of 15.1% to 12.3%, and compared to one year ago, over 58,000 more people are now in jobs – the vast majority of them in full-time employment. We must continue that progress, and that’s why National Employment Week is such an important initiative, supporting employers to increase capacity to employ more people."

In relation to youth unemployment, the Minister said: "The aim of the EU-wide Youth Guarantee is to ensure that all young people under the age of 25 receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a short time of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. The Youth Guarantee can be summed up in a single word: opportunities. It’s about making sure we give our young people the opportunities they need to achieve their full potential."

Over the course of 2014, processes and programmes will be progressively rolled out to ensure that young unemployed people who have a low probability of finding employment without significant support will receive a Youth Guarantee offer within four months. The Government expects to provide a Guarantee offer to circa 30,000 young people at the highest risk of long-term unemployment this year.

In Budget 2014, provision of €46 million was made across a number of Government Departments for the above and additional Youth Guarantee-related measures, building on the schemes and programmes already in place. In all, between new and existing funding, the Government will spend more than €500 million this year on youth employment, education and training.

(CD)