Mini Budget April 7th 2009
March 31st 2009
Seven days until the budget. The countdown starts.
Given the scale of the unemployment problem facing Ireland, it is vital that addressing unemployment is now treated with the same degree of urgency as that given to addressing the financial crisis - both banking and public. Unemployment has both an economic and social cost - costs that are borne by the country, the community, and in particular unemployed people themselves and their families. It is crucial that the State plays its' part in supporting unemployed people to address the issues facing them particularly the loss of income and securing future employment.
It is time to address unemployment within this mini-budget. Government must take this opportunity to foster new and innovative approaches to Ireland's unemployment crisis and resist the easy option of reducing critical expenditures in the short term only to add considerably to the burden in the longer term. As we have shown in the past, Ireland can work its' way out of the problems we are facing. The time for action is now.
The INOU is counting down to budget day with this web campaign and each day until the 7th of April we will be highlighting one of our key priorities for the mini-budget. We hope that you will join us in calling on the Government to use this opportunity to choose to address unemployment now.
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April 1st 2009
Time to Support Unemployed People
Six days until the budget. The countdown continues.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ No reduction in unemployment payments.
▪ No further cuts by stealth to social welfare payments.
It is imperative that social welfare payments are not cut in this budget for the following reasons:
Unemployed people are at considerably higher risk of poverty when compared to others in Irish society. In 2007 the at-risk-of-poverty rate was 38.7% for unemployed people in comparison to 16.5% overall; while the consistent poverty rate was 17.5% for unemployed people in comparison to 5.1% overall. Recent improvements in social welfare rates have contributed to reducing poverty rates and these gains must be maintained.
Maintaining unemployed people's spending power is important. Evidence shows that people on low incomes spend their money locally, supporting local economies often in the most disadvantaged areas. And though the Consumer Price Index may be down 1.7% overall: food costs are up marginally; education inflation is 5.5%; the cost of electricity increased by 16.8% and the cost of gas by 20.1%; bus fares are up 13%; and the category miscellaneous goods and services is up 8.3%.
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April 2nd 2009
Five days until the budget. The countdown continues.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ No further detrimental changes in the eligibility criteria and duration of payment of Jobseekers Benefit.
▪ Set targets for maximum times for processing claims for Jobseeker Benefit and Jobseekers Allowance.
We are asking that the Government be mindful of the level and extent of personal debt in the current unemployment crisis. The State must ensure that people are not driven further into spiralling debt and forced into becoming homeless. The costs of addressing this issue after the fact would be considerably
higher, and far outweigh the costs involved in tackling the issue before
the problem develops.
With the record numbers of people being made unemployed the DSFA should set targets for maximum times for processing claims with a view to significantly reducing the average waiting times for both JB and JA payments. Issues around accessing a payment continue to arise at local level. The INOU welcomes the
additional resources the Department of Social and Family Affairs have put into this issue however it is clear that further urgent work is required.
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April 3rd 2009
Four days until the budget. The countdown continues.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ Innovative thinking on the continuum of job maintenance; job creation; education and training.
▪ The Government to immediately re-convene the High Level Group on the Labour Market.
▪ The Government to hold the proposed Jobs and Skills Summit as a matter of urgency.
Given the unemployment crisis facing the country it is vital that a partnership approach to addressing this issue is put into effect now. To develop an integrated response demands that all the relevant players are working together to hammer out potential solutions at both local and national levels. The 'Smart Economy' document provides a potentially longer term strategy. In the meantime, we urgently need a short-term plan which outlines how we are going to get from where we are now to where we would like to be in the future. It is time for innovative thinking on the continuum of job maintenance; job creation; education and training.
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April 4th 2009
Three days until the budget. The countdown continues.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ Significantly improved integration between the Department of Social and Family Affairs, FÁS and the Local Employment Service in the development and delivery of benefits and employment supports and services.
▪ Significantly improved integration between the Departments of Education and Science, Social and Family Affairs and Enterprise, Trade and Employment to match up the labour force and employment opportunities.
In its publication, "Ireland, Towards an Integrated Public Service" the OECD noted that "The Public Service should set out to increase its strategic planning capacity throughout the Public Service at all levels by promoting an integrated Public Service perspective in key staff." (p21, Executive Summary)
Such a development is crucial if limited public resources are to be used as effectively as possible in meeting the needs of unemployed people and their families.
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April 5th 2009
Two days until the budget. The countdown continues.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ The focus on addressing disadvantage within CE to be maintained.
▪ The introduction of sophisticated profiling of unemployed people to ensure that those who have a greater probability of becoming long-term unemployed receive intensive interventions at an earlier stage.
Active labour market programmes like Community Employment have provided and continue to provide an important access point to the labour market for those who are distant from it including the long-term unemployed, disabled people and lone-parents. In the current climate there is a danger that those who are more vulnerable to socio-economic exclusion will find themselves further marginalised. Maintaining the focus on addressing disadvantage within CE is critical in this regard.
The ESRI are working on the development of a profiling system of unemployed people to ensure that those who have a greater probability of becoming long-term unemployed receive intensive interventions at an earlier stage. The INOU believes that the introduction of a sophisticated system could act as an important tool in challenging economic exclusion.
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April 6th 2009
One day left until the budget. The countdown nears completion.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ The provision of supports to facilitate people to stay in their jobs: 'Earn and Learn'.
▪ A reduction in the eligibility criteria for schemes like the Back to Work Allowance; Back to Work Enterprise Allowance; the Part-time Job Incentive Scheme; and Revenue Job Assist to 6 months.
▪ The delivery of a more enhanced employment service that has the capacity to identify people's current skill set, potential gaps and how these can be best addressed.
For newly unemployed people different active labour market programmes are required. If Ireland is to realise its vision within the 'Smart Economy' document new measures that support 'Earn and Learn' approaches are required. Such an approach would see individuals supported to remain in their jobs on a part-time basis while developing their skills in the remainder of their working week. This development would feed into a three pronged approach to lifelong learning between the individual, the employer and the state.
To support unemployed people seeking to put their talents and experience to good use through the self-employment option, the INOU is calling on the Government to reduce the qualifying period for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance to 6 months. The National Employment Action Plan process is now scheduled to commence at 3 months: the time between this process commencing and an applicant's eligibility for BTW Enterprise Allowance kicking in should be used to support the individual to undertake a business appraisal and any necessary training.
There are two distinct re-training and up-skilling issues facing policy makers and practitioners at present. Firstly, there is the challenge of bringing people with low levels of formal education up to a level whereby they can compete in a 'smart economy' for a decent job. In many cases people in this group are early school leavers, who in more recent years found employment in the construction industry. Secondly, there is the challenge of supporting people who already have a high level of qualifications but whose existing skills mix does not fit easily with potential employment. A more sophisticated employment service is required that has the capacity to identify people's current skill set and potential gaps and how these can be best addressed.
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April 7th 2009
Budget day. The countdown is over.
The INOU is calling for:
▪ The immediate production of the implementation plan for the National Skills
Strategy.
▪ A guaranteed employment related training or education place for every young
unemployed person aged 21 or under.
▪ A systematic review of the current use of educational/training facilities with
a view to identifying how greater use can be made of these facilities.
It is of vital importance that the current policy focus on up-skilling and re-training is clearly part of Ireland's planned economic and social development. There is nothing more disheartening for unemployed people than to be sent on an education or training programme that has no tangible outcome.
A guaranteed training or education place would be one measure seeking to address the challenges of early school leaving and higher rates of unemployment amongst young people. There are clear links into the labour market from such engagement and young people need a strong sense that such efforts will improve their employment prospects.
What is the potential for schools remaining open in the evening to act as adult education centres? We need to weigh the cost of such provision against the cost of not maximising the use of current resources and social infrastructure.
The INOU has been counting down to budget day since the 31st of March to highlight some of our key priorities for the mini-budget. We are calling on the Government to use today, Budget day, to address unemployment and get Ireland back working our way out of our problems.
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