Training and upskilling must be at centre of recovery plans
Issued : Monday 6 April, 2009
Statement by Willie Penrose TD
Training and upskilling must form the central plank in our economic recovery, but we need to see more imagination and urgency from the Government in this regard.
We should increase training places via Fas, VECs and the Institutes of Technology. We have Colleges of Further Education losing teachers and having to turn away young people who are going straight from school into unemployment. VECs and ITs are ready and willing to provide many more training places if they are given funding.
In addition we should allow employers who wish to recruit, but whose financial position prevents them for doing so, to top up the Jobseekers payments of individuals who are looking for a job, so bringing the individual's income up to a good wage. We must be innovative and show flexibility in the new circumstances.
Hundreds of jobs are being lost weekly in the construction industry, yet the schools building programme, for which money has already been allocated, is proceeding at snail's pace, with more than 40,000 pupils attending classes in prefabs. Communities need schools, and builders need jobs. We should be getting these skilled workers back into productive activity without delay.
One scheme which would greatly improve the productivity of the labour force is an 'earn and learn' scheme whereby people who are unemployed could combine short-time working with education and training.
Also, we must immediately set about reforming the back-to-work supports, such as the Back To Work Enterprise Allowance, and all those lead-in times which are in place for the determination of eligibility should be eliminated and replaced by three months in all cases. The welfare system should be about preventing long term unemployment rather than promoting it.
At present, more than one in three of those on the live register, is a former construction worker. These workers have great experience and expertise, and their skills are in great demand in the social economy sector. We should allow the unemployed to work with voluntary groups and receive some additional payments if necessary in order to utilise their skills and provide much needed services, in a scheme based on the CE model.
The Government must lift the cap on PLC courses which currently stands at 30,000 and the cost of providing extra places is marginal since most of the infrastructure and services already exist. Likewise, the cap of 5,000 on the Vocational Training opportunities should be lifted, and taking these steps would involve minimal cost.
If we really want to get out of this economic tailspin quickly, education and training are the last areas that should be subject to cutbacks.
