Jobbridge indecon update jun2013

07 June 2013

CWU Youth Committee

Campaign Update

Government spin can’t hide the truth behind the scam!

On May 1st Indecon Economic Consultants released its full evaluation of the JobBridge Internship Scheme. This followed on from Indecon’s interim evaluation of the Scheme, which was presented to the Minister for Social Protection in October 2012. There is little new within the latest evaluation, save for an increasing level of ingenuity on behalf of government spin-doctors.

In the days that followed the publication of the report most media outlets ran with the claim that 61.4% of JobBridge participants found employment following their internship. An impressive outcome on the face of it, but how is it calculated? The figures relate to anyone who has ever participated in JobBridge and who has at any time since secured employment of any type or duration.

CWUYC Publications The JobBridge to

So for example if you happen to be one of the 20% of interns who drops out of JobBridge because of dissatisfaction with your placement and you manage to obtain a job one year later, then you’re included within this figure. Not so impressive after all.

Nowhere report is available to download from the CWU website

The reality of JobBridge is that upon completion of their placements only 36.3% of interns had found employment. Of these only 19.5% were employed with their host organisation, while the other 16.8% were employed in another organisation.

Significantly, the number of interns who eventually progressed to employment with their host organisation was 28.6% and this tallies with the 29% of hosts who said that they would have been fairly or highly likely to have offered paid employment in the absence of JobBridge.

So what has happened here is that employers who were willing and

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Communications Workers’ Union William Norton House 575 North Circular Road Dublin 1 Phone: 01 866 3000 Fax: 01 866 3099 E-mail: info@cwu.ie

CWU Youth Committee Derek Keenan, Chairperson m 087 698 2196 e dkeenan_83@hotmail.com Barry Gorman, Vice-Chair m 087 674 5473 e barryf.gorman@gmail.com

able to create real paying jobs have instead utilised the government’s gift of free labour. This is why companies engage with JobBridge, it is not out of any sense of civic virtue, but because they have work to be done and would rather that it was done for free. But at least JobBridge increases you’re chances of getting a job, doesn’t it?

The report does point to a substantially higher employment rate among individuals exiting the live register who have participated in JobBridge compared with non-JobBridge participants, with 71.5% of JobBridge participants who exited the Live Register during 2012 finding employment versus 33.5% across all exits from the Register.

However, when adjustments were made for variations in the age and educational profile of JobBridge and non-JobBridge participants the weighted exit rates were calculated at 54.5% and 33.5% respectively. This would still suggest that JobBridge is an effective labour market activation measure given that participants in the Scheme are more likely to exit the Live Register than non-participants. Not so.

There is one glaring omission made by Indecon in respect of calculating the weighted Live Register exit rates to employment. No adjustment was made for the fact that 29% of JobBridge participants were interning with employers who had indicated that would have probably offered paid employment in the absence of the Scheme. Therefore we are not comparing like with like in respect of the exit rates of JobBridge participants and non-JobBridge participants from the Live Register and into employment. This represents a serious methodological flaw within the report that cannot be ignored.

What also cannot be ignored is the fact that 3% of employers admitted using the scheme to displace existing paid employment. This amounts to just over 200 employers who have admitted to abusing the scheme and yet to date, only 15 companies have been disqualified from participating in the scheme. Such abuse looks set to rise, given that the proposed Youth Guarantee for Ireland will most probably take the form of a wholesale expansion of the JobBridge Scheme.

Derek Keenan Chair CWU Youth Committee