‘Long-term solution’ to tackle youth unemployment

The Government has been urged to abandon “short-term ‘emergency’ corrective measures” to address youth unemployment and adopt longer-term ‘preventative’ measures.

The Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) made the call as it voiced significant concerns about the Government’s JobBridge scheme pointing out that:

• Some employers use the scheme for free labour for work that might be undertaken by workers at full pay;
• Some trainees derive very limited benefit from the experience in terms of relevant experience, confidence and employability;
• There is a lack of adequate monitoring to ensure that exploitation is not taking place and that the scheme is operating as it is meant to;
• There is a lack of accreditation and transition to quality employment upon completion of the training.