Profiling to show risk of lengthy unemployment

A PROFILING system to identify those at risk of long-term unemployment when they first seek social welfare is to be introduced next year, Social and Family Affairs Minister, Mary Hanafin, has announced.

“Accurate and relevant profiling for people who sign on the live register can lead to early, targeted interventions for those most likely to become long-term unemployed.

“Prevention of long-term unemployment must be our priority and profiling facilitates referral for intervention very early in the claim cycle,” she said yesterday.

Ms Hanafin was speaking at the launch of research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) that revealed those at greatest risk of unemployment.

She said the profiling scheme proposed created a model to facilitate targeted interventions for those who needed it most, and the next step was to start using it.

“From the spring of next year we would hope to start taking all of the information and, hopefully, by the end of next year to start using it in a very positive way for people who have lost their jobs,” she pointed out.

Many people joining the live register have high skill levels and a long work history and, according to the ESRI, early intervention for them was less necessary.

“The real target of resources has to be those who have the highest risk of becoming long-term unemployed due to a combination of factors, which can include low education levels, poor literacy or numeracy, advanced age and a history of unemployment spells in recent years,” she said.

Currently, there are around 440,000 people on the live register and this is expected to rise further.

In the 12 months to July, 148,900 people left the live register because they secured work and a further 21,200 left to take up education or training opportunities.

“This is a positive trend that shows there are still jobs available and that the Government activation measures are assisting the unemployed to develop their skills and secure employment,” the minister said.

National Profiling of the Unemployed in Ireland, conducted by the ESRI in partnership with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, tracked the status of about 60,000 claimants on the live register over an 18 month period.

It found that women who are married or separated are less likely than single women to leave the live register, as are those women whose spouses are high earners.

The negative impact of children on the likelihood of getting a job was also greater for women, whereas the negative effect of age was bigger for men.