On July 12th, 2021 the Government published Pathways to Work describing “the goal of Pathways to Work 2021-2025 is to ensure that as many of these opportunities as possible are filled by people who are unemployed. This includes all unemployed, those whose jobs were lost due to COVID-19, those already on the Live Register pre-pandemic and those in society that face particular challenges in finding and sustaining employment.” (p8)
It has four high level ambitions:
- To reduce long-term unemployment
- To reduce the youth unemployment rate
- To ensure better labour market outcomes for all
- To improve labour market transitions
The Strategy contains 83 commitments laid out under 5 strands of action or headings including:
- Working for Jobseekers
- Working for Employers
- Working for Work
- Working for All – Leaving No One Behind
- Working with evidence
Under the first strand of action, Working for Jobseekers, the Government states “For jobseekers, the approach is to help them develop and pursue a personal progression plan including steps to identify and compete for suitable employment opportunities, to take-up relevant work experience, to pursue upskilling and training programmes, to set up their own business, to return to fulltime education, and to participate in State/ community employment programmes.” (p29)
Figure 6 on page 33 describes the type of services and supports that are made available to people depending on whether or not they are in receipt of a Jobseeker’s payment, and whether or not their Probability of Exit score indicated a low-risk, medium-risk or high-risk of long-term unemployment. Into this later category they have also included people who are aged under 30.
Commitments 1 to 30 are presented under this Strand and include:
- Expand the caseload capacity of the Intreo Public Employment Service (contracted and in-house) by 100,000 jobseekers per annum to over 200,000 per annum, through the assignment of an additional 150 directly employed Case Officers within DSP Intreo. (Commitment 1)
- Work with Pandemic Unemployment Payment recipients during the transitionary phase as temporary COVID-19 State supports are tapered off by providing employment supports to this new cohort of unemployed to assist them back to employment as the economy recovers. (Commitment 4)
- Review and update the existing Probability of Exit (PEX) segmentation model. (Commitment 17)
- Explore and, if appropriate, develop a holistic diagnostic tool to support Intreo Case Officers in their assessment of individual jobseeker needs. (Commitment 18)
- Support 50,000 long-term unemployed people to commence in Further Education and Training provision by 2025. (Commitment 27)
Under the third strand of action, Working for Work, the Government notes “the nature of any system that is based on income, or days of work thresholds/ cut-off points, is such that notwithstanding the availability of exemptions/disregards, the jobseeker can face earnings cliffs and the financial returns from working can be perceived as marginal.” (p58)
This has been an issue of concern for the INOU for many years, and the organisation has called for an hours based system rather than a days based one for people on a Jobseeker’s payment. Under Commitment 43, the Government says it will “Prepare a paper on options to modify the longer term jobseeker assistance payment by utilising the Revenue real time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person’s weekly earnings, to guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that in all cases a person’s income increases when they work.” What exactly this will mean in practice remains to be seen, but it will be essential that it does not exacerbate the income inadequacy challenges facing many people who are unemployed and / or in low paid employment.
Under the fourth strand of action, Working for All – Leaving No One Behind, the Government notes that “Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, it had been intended that this strategy statement would focus, primarily, on ways to increase employment rates among groups with low levels of labour market participation, including:
- Lone parents,
- People with disabilities,
- Qualified adults (Adult dependants of those in receipt of a social welfare payment),
- People from minority groups.”
They go on to say that “COVID-19 has changed the context. However, we cannot afford to neglect our responsibility to those people within our community who before COVID-19, were already facing significant labour market barriers. Accordingly, we now set out our approach to delivering, during the lifetime of this strategy, a Public Employment Service that works for all.” (p62)
Commitments 47 to 75 are presented under this Strand and include:
- Ensure that the particular circumstances of lone parents are considered in the assessment of a Working Age Payment/Basic Income Guarantee. (Commitment 47)
- Review the current long-term disability payment schemes with a view to removing inconsistencies/ anomalies and ensure that they recognise the continuum of disabilities and support employment. (Commitment 50)
- Undertaking focused engagement with employers to encourage the recruitment of older workers, including the promotion of the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy. (Commitment 53)
- Implement an intensive model of engagement with young people profiled as being at risk of long-term unemployment. (Commitment 57)
- Reserve places on public employment programmes for people from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. (Commitment 66)
- Consult with stakeholders from the Traveller (and/or Roma) community to advise the Public Employment Service. (Commitment 70)
Though many of these commitments are welcome, it remains to be seen if this strategy will indeed deliver on a public employment service for all, a stronger commitment to a person centred and wrap around service for everyone of working age, regardless of their social welfare status, is required.
If you wish to read the full Pathways to Work 2021-2025 strategy please follow this link.