Pathways To Work Launches

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton TD, has announced Pathways to Work, a radical new plan to get unemployed people back to work.

Pathways to Work is primarily focused on those who have been out of work for a year or more. The aim is to get 75,000 people who are currently long-term unemployed back into the workforce and to reduce the average time spent on the live register from 21 months today to less than 12 months by the end of 2015.

A key element of the Pathways to Work approach is the transformation of social welfare offices into new one-stop-shops in the first half of the year where clients can access their entitlements and get help with planning their return to work. Four will open in King’s Inn, Parnell Street, Dublin; Tallaght, Dublin; Arklow, Co. Wicklow and Sligo by May with a further ten coming on stream by the end of the year.

Speaking at the Digital Skills Academy Minister Burton said: "We will engage with every unemployed person to make sure that their first day out of work is also their first step on the pathway back to work. No-one who loses his/her job will be allowed to drift, without support, into long-term unemployment.

"We will not repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s when unemployment remained high even after economic recovery took hold. This time, our people will be job-ready when the recovery comes."

The Department of Social Protection will spend €977 million on employment supports including Community Employment schemes in 2012, up from €882 million in 2011. This increased spending of €95 million, against a backdrop of significant fiscal consolidation, underlines the Government’s commitment to enhancing support for employment.

Overall, the Department will offer 85,650 job placement or work experience initiatives in 2012 including JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, Tús, the Rural Social Scheme and the Jobs Initiative.

(CD/GK)