Five years into Ireland's unemployment crisis the nature of our policy response has been slow. In general attention has been focused on employment creation, a worthy and necessary goal, but with limited attention on the nature of the unemployment crisis and the likely long-term impediments to resolving it.
Issued this week is a new NERI Research inBrief which focuses on the role of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and in particular the role of the largest ALMP Community Employment (CE).
It proposes a restructuring of that programme, into two streams, which would retain the longstanding dual role of CE: helping the long-term unemployed return to the active labour market and the provision of local services. Such an approach would offer a more sustainable structure for CE and ensure than it continues to target those furthest from the active labour market.
The publication is available here.