Employers Urged To Provide Placements For Unemployed

Employers need to work collaboratively with the Executive to provide work placements and opportunities to support our young unemployed people, said Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry.

He was addressing employers at a seminar in the Titanic Signature building, aimed at promoting the new programme to tackle youth unemployment entitled Youth Employment Scheme (YES). The Minister called on employers to get involved in the scheme by providing sector relevant work experience opportunities which would be supported by employer subsidies.

The Minister said: "The ongoing difficult economic conditions have hit young people particularly hard. Without relevant recent work experience many of our young people, including those recently graduated, are finding it difficult to compete for the jobs that are available. The Youth Employment Scheme is a £31million package which provides employment and skills incentives to address the issue.

"Core strands of this new scheme include early intensive diagnosis of employability skills, work experience flexibly blended with skills training and a new employer subsidy worth up to £5,570 per year. This new employer subsidy will be for sectors which have the potential to help rebuild and rebalance the economy.

"In addition, we are investing a further £10million to deliver the initiatives set out in our NEETs Strategy - Pathways to Success to help those young people most marginalised in our society engage effectively with the world of work."

The programme will also consist of enhanced support through additional Adviser time from both the Employment and Careers Services. Participants will be paid a training allowance of £100 a week whilst on work experience and employers will also receive help with training costs up to a maximum of £750.

(CD)