Gvmt. promises reforms to boost job growth

Dave!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0222/368995-government-action-plan-jobs/

The Government has promised a series of "disruptive reforms" as part of a new employment promotion scheme launched this morning.

The plan contains 333 actions to be implemented in 2013 by 16 Government departments and 46 agencies.

Under the Action Plan for Jobs 2013, the State will pay €1 for every €4 it will cost an employer to take a long term unemployed person off the Live Register.

It also promises to provide an extra 2,000 ICT graduates in 2013 and will make it easier for companies to bring skilled workers to Ireland from abroad.

The Government will also create a €70m energy efficiency fund, which it says will create 5,000 jobs

It says it will get 2,000 more small businesses trading online in 2013 and 2014, with the creation of 3,200 jobs.

The plan also aims to create a single licensing application system for up to 25 licences in the retail sector, saving retailers over €20m per annum.

The IDA plans to target more than 130 new investments, secure €500m worth of research and development investment and help create 13,000 new jobs this year.

The job creation scheme is focused on the long-term unemployed, providing a cash-flow benefit to businesses that hire jobseekers who have been on the Live Register for 12 months or more.

Speaking at the launch of the plan, Taoiseach Enda Kenny acknowledged employment had not moved in the right direction to the extent the Government would have liked.

However, he pointed out that 12,000 net jobs were created in the private sector last year.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said: "We have a lot of work to do, but it's what we get up to work for every morning."

In a statement, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said: "This is a scheme that will be straightforward to administer and will encourage the recruitment of jobseekers who have been on the Live Register for 12 months or more."

The plan pledges to make Ireland one of the leading countries in Europe for what it calls 'Big Data', which it says is a sector growing by up to 40% per annum.

It says the Government will establish a centre to establish Ireland as a leading location for start-up and growing medtech and healthcare companies.

Chief Executive of the Irish Stock Exchange Deirdre Somers said the plan would be an essential step in identifying the challenges facing mid-sized companies.

She said Ireland needs more success stories like Ryanair, Kerry Group and Paddy Power, to help create jobs and assist the country’s recovery.

Director of the Small Firms Association Avine McNally said it was vital that all the proposals in the action plan are acted upon and delivered if new jobs are to be delivered.

She said the measures to tackle unemployment need to be reflected in the measures used to support SMEs.

Meanwhile, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said there needs to be a representative for the construction sector in government because it was falling between the various departments.

Director General Tom Parlon said any action to reduce the number of unemployed construction workers must be welcomed, but said the Federation was disappointed that “that only five of the 333 action points brought forward specifically deal with the construction sector and of those two points have been recycled from the 2012 plan”.

What do we think?

Is there a breakdown of the composition of the long-term unemployed (in terms of sector/skill, etc)?

I suspect they're mostly from construction and associated sectors, and from what I gather they're not likely to benefit much from this.

antoobrien

Dave! wrote: »

What do we think?

Is there a breakdown of the composition of the long-term unemployed (in terms of sector/skill, etc)?

I suspect they're mostly from construction and associated sectors, and from what I gather they're not likely to benefit much from this.

While there doesn't seem to be much for those sectors, we need to get a large amount of these unemployed retrained in other areas as we probably will not get back to the employment levels of the boom time construction industry.

The article is low on details, so I'd need to see the full report/plan but one thing sticks out as a bit of spoofery:

It also promises to provide an extra 2,000 ICT graduates in 2013

How exactly are they going to provide an extra 2,000 graduates on top of what's there?

I have my doubts about what they say regarding ICT jobs as call centre jobs are classified along side network & software engineers etc - which are not high value/high qualification jobs.

ressem

It seems legally dubious that the government is pushing employers to employ one citizen over another.

At a time when cash is king for business, this is a hurdle that will stand against someone just trying to change employer or career.

yermanoffthetv

Well Endas 5 point plan hasnt worked, might as well try the 333 point plan. Its vagueness leads me to believe alot of its content is purely aspirational* (read: talking out their arse to look like their doing something)

ednwireland

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

Well Endas 5 point plan hasnt worked, might as well try the 333 point plan. Its vagueness leads me to believe alot of its content is purely aspirational* (read: talking out their arse to look like their doing something)

nail head

carpejugulum

- cut minimum wage
- cut long-term welfare by 30-40%
- do something about rates

And we could see some improvement in a few years.

Otherwise high unemployment is here to stay because of who is unemployed - loads of people with very limited skills and experience enjoying welfare with which the private sector cannot compete.

donegal11

Why is the government making it easier for companies to bring skilled workers to Ireland from abroad when they will be competing for jobs from Irish/EU graduates. The current barriers aren't to high, so it's effectively importing cheap labour to reduce jobs for EU workers because they don't want to pay the going rate or train a recent grad.

Einhard

carpejugulum wrote: »

- cut minimum wage
- cut long-term welfare by 30-40%
- do something about rates

And we could see some improvement in a few years.

Otherwise high unemployment is here to stay because of who is unemployed - loads of people with very limited skills and experience enjoying welfare with which the private sector cannot compete.

Hmmm, yet those very same factors were in place 6 years ago and we didn't have high unemployment. Funny that.

djpbarry

donegal11 wrote: »

Why is the government making it easier for companies to bring skilled workers to Ireland from abroad when they will be competing for jobs from Irish/EU graduates.

Will they? Are there masses of unemployed software developers, for example, in Ireland right now? I doubt it.

antoobrien

djpbarry wrote: »

Will they? Are there masses of unemployed software developers, for example, in Ireland right now? I doubt it.

Unless there's less between the ears than a blank sheet of sheet of paper, anybody with a qualification can get a job in software right now (not just engineering).

djpbarry

antoobrien wrote: »

Unless there's less between the ears than a blank sheet of sheet of paper, anybody with a qualification can get a job in software right now (not just engineering).

That's generally my impression - it's the same here in the UK.

Why do people have such a hard time grasping the idea that you can't shove square people into round jobs?

carpejugulum

Einhard wrote: »

Hmmm, yet those very same factors were in place 6 years ago and we didn't have high unemployment. Funny that.

The only reason these people were employed was more than €250 billion of debt accumulated during the bubble years. The bubble is not coming back and neither is the vast majority of the jobs.
And the salaries on offer won't be bubble salaries either, so they won't be able to compete with the crazy welfare rates.
So the high unemployment is here to stay.

ressem

Might as well link to the actual document...
http://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/2013apj.pdf

This is more useful than the 5 point plan even if some of the the points are of dubious merit.

You may have noticed Enterprise Ireland being fairly demanding of their associated companies to bring their web sites up to a modern standard and put in web stores where feasible.
The institutes of technologies are offering vouchers to small companies worth 4-5K of graduate research time with the IP returning to the company. They are working harder at getting 4th level involved with local business than I've seen recently.

Point 3

In the context of this assessment, identify and commence at least 2 new pilot initiatives whereby data analytics will be employed to address specific challenges delivering economic impact and/or improved public services.

I'd support their getting a small number of teams that can implement high quality of data analysis in some targeted area (such as water flow and loss analysis from all of those new meters), then sharing expertise and implementation with departments that can not afford to spec and implement from scratch.
It was pointed out during the CrokePark2 talking that the department heads have failed to put in the means to gather necessary information about the workings of their departments, and are working on historic estimates in areas.


I still can't see how that Action Plan subsidised 25% of pay can be constitutional.
I think that if they put it into a training rebate for new employees to alleviate employers concerns over the flight of upskilled new staff, it'd be of more use. The "ManagementWorks" and "Excellence Through People" would be the mode of delivery and cut FAS/SOLAS out.

antoobrien

carpejugulum wrote: »

The only reason these people were employed was more than €250 billion of debt accumulated during the bubble years. The bubble is not coming back and neither is the vast majority of the jobs.
And the salaries on offer won't be bubble salaries either, so they won't be able to compete with the crazy welfare rates.
So the high unemployment is here to stay.

Where are you getting the €250bn out of?

carpejugulum

antoobrien wrote: »

Where are you getting the €250bn out of?

€150bn households+€60bn gvt+banking+business debt

Head The Wall

Govt debt alone is going to be touching on 200 billion soon

antoobrien

carpejugulum wrote: »

€150bn households+€60bn gvt+banking+business debt

Ah so we#'re including pre-existing debt then, not just the boom time debt.

The mortgage figures don't just cover the "boom time" mortgages, they will cover all mortgages back to the 90s (and possibly 80s, don't know what duration of mortgages they were giving out at the time).

Government debt is over €100m since the boom.

Banking & business is almost impossible to quantify as companies like Citi, who have little/no business operations in Ireland have debt booked here.

Mr. teddywinkles

carpejugulum wrote: »

- cut minimum wage
- cut long-term welfare by 30-40%
- do something about rates

And we could see some improvement in a few years.

Otherwise high unemployment is here to stay because of who is unemployed - loads of people with very limited skills and experience enjoying welfare with which the private sector cannot compete.

And then begins mass poverty. well done

carpejugulum

antoobrien wrote: »

Ah so we#'re including pre-existing debt then, not just the boom time debt.

The mortgage figures don't just cover the "boom time" mortgages, they will cover all mortgages back to the 90s (and possibly 80s, don't know what duration of mortgages they were giving out at the time).

Government debt is over €100m since the boom.

Banking & business is almost impossible to quantify as companies like Citi, who have little/no business operations in Ireland have debt booked here.

€150bn is during the bubble only.
Government debt rose after the bust. €60bn is during the bubble, although that is higher after promissory notes were transformed into gvt debt.

robertxxx

Do people REALLY believe anything that comes from the mouths of these people who are making Ireland a horrid place to live.

carpejugulum

Mr. teddywinkles wrote: »

And then begins mass poverty. well done

It would result in increased commercial activity and higher employment
Heavily taxing people and piling debt on future generations is not a solution.

antoobrien

carpejugulum wrote: »

€150bn is during the bubble only.
Government debt rose after the bust. €60bn is during the bubble, although that is higher after promissory notes were transformed into gvt debt.

30-40bn of GGD was there before the bubble. There's at least 5 years mortgages that were pre-bubble mortgages (pre-98) and it's impossible to tell the value of those.

djpbarry

robertxxx wrote: »

Do people REALLY believe anything that comes from the mouths of these people who are making Ireland a horrid place to live.

Define "horrid".

Because I can think of a number of places off the top of my head that are far more "horrid" than Ireland.

carpejugulum

antoobrien wrote: »

30-40bn of GGD was there before the bubble. There's at least 5 years mortgages that were pre-bubble mortgages (pre-98) and it's impossible to tell the value of those.

no need to guess when we have official figures

household debt
2002 - 66bn
2008/09 - 212bn

antoobrien

carpejugulum wrote: »

no need to guess when we have official figures

household debt
2002 - 66bn
2008/09 - 212bn

Oh goody "official" figures

But wait no links.

carpejugulum

antoobrien wrote: »

Oh goody "official" figures

But wait no links.

summarized here, for example

rodento

Slashing public sector and banking pay should help

djpbarry

rodento wrote: »

Slashing public sector and banking pay should help

How?