At today's sitting of Tynwald the Hon. Member for Douglas North , Mr Henderson asked the Minister for Economic Development the following question:

Whether his Department will conduct a joint assessment with the Department of Social Care in relation to the long term unemployed, young unemployed, and those requiring work based experience to determine why suitable applicants for work are being continually rejected; what help could be given to those people; and to better understand what is going wrong with in the employment pool and what it is employers are looking for in employees?

The Hon John Shimmin MHK, Minister for the Department of Economic Development responded as follows:

I thank the Honourable Member for Douglas North for his question as it provides an opportunity for me to update all members of this Court on areas of work which are both underway and planned in relation to assisting those who are currently unemployed.

Firstly, there is already close collaboration between the Department’s of Social Care and my Department, particularly in relation to our aim of reducing long term unemployment.  Government has set a challenging objective to reduce by half the numbers of people who remain unemployed for over 12 months and the Minister for Social Care will respond further on this in his answer to question 30. 

In light of the rise in long term unemployment, my Department has already dedicated specific staffing resource to the initiative which is enabling individual appointments to be provided and personalised action plans to be agreed.  Where an individual lacks certain skills or experience, additional training and work placement opportunities are being provided to address these vital gaps which can often be a significant barrier in re-entering the employment market.

Honourable members will appreciate that this represents a significant investment in time and is being facilitated in a period when unemployment is markedly higher than it has been for many years, and the pressure already on services provided by my Department’s employment & skills group, which includes the Job Centre, are considerable.

My Department is in the final stages of developing a public-private partnership approach to providing additional services to those persons who find themselves out of work for an extended period.  This will enable us to increase the range of employment support services and provide the much needed coaching and mentoring needed to both obtain and sustain paid employment.

I can also assure this Honourable Court that this same priority continues to be afforded in the area of youth employment.   The issue of young people who are not in education, employment or training (neet), remains of critical importance not only to my Department but to Government as a whole. 

Honourable members will recall that within the Agenda for Change document, received by this Court at its January sitting this year, Government committed to, helping more young people find employment and to providing more opportunities for applied and vocational learning.  Successful initiatives are already in place with regard to training and work placement opportunities and my Department is working directly with private sector organisations to facilitate ‘academy’ style training programmes which potentially lead directly to employment for those young people who embrace the opportunity.

Furthermore, where areas of growth are identified within the economy, we are working with our partners in Government, such as the Department of Education & Children to meet the needs of local business.  As an example i would cite the 50% increase in engineering training places which will be available from this September and the detailed plans in development at this very minute to increase places by a further 100% from september 2014, effectively trebling the number of training opportunities in precision engineering within two years.

It is clearly difficult for me to comment in relation to why applicants may be turned down for certain vacancies and I do not think it is possible to suggest that there is in some way something going wrong within the ‘employment pool’.  My Department’s view is that we are currently experiencing a more competitive labour market than has been the case for many years and demand for jobs is outstripping supply.  My advice for those who find themselves turned down for job opportunities would be to always seek feedback from the employer as to why they were unsuccessful, learn from their experience and, if areas of improvement are apparent, to work in conjunction with my officers within the Employment & Skills Team to address those aspects which needed to be improved.

I do, however, receive occasional feedback from some employers who still find it difficult to recruit workers, even for roles where there is not necessarily a requirement for extensive qualifications or experience.  This includes areas such as retail, hospitality and general service industries.  There should be no reason for those currently out of work not to actively seek employment in these sectors and there is a responsibility on the wider community, be it parents, teachers or friends to recognise that there is dignity in work and to provide encouragement to gain employment, skills and experience which will benefit future careers.

Madam President, there are training opportunities available to fill skills gaps.  As a result of close working with employers there are work placement options in a variety of economic sectors.  There is still a reasonable level of vacancies at the Job Centre each month.  I would encourage anyone who feels they need further assistance to make contact with my team, via the Job Centre in the first instance.

I can assure Honourable Members that this is a key priority of my Department.  I am confident that those seeking advice, guidance and support will be afforded every opportunity to receive it.