Among its recommendations ahead of the Government ‘Jobs Initiative’, employers group IBEC said a new national graduate internship programme and a work placement programme for the unemployed should be established.
Further to this, new third-level courses to help move those with construction-related skills into new areas of employment should be set up, IBEC said in its submission.
“We desperately need a new approach to job creation,” said director general Danny McCoy. “We have been in crisis-management mode for far too long; now is the time to take positive steps to get the economy back on track. Business will provide the job opportunities that the country so desperately needs, but Government must ensure the conditions are right.”
The State’s employment services and the social welfare system should be fully integrated and work together to get people back to work, added IBEC.
The group also called for a major overhaul of the wage rules that set minimum terms and conditions in many sectors of the economy.
Other key recommendations included creating a substantial loan guarantee scheme for SMEs, ensuring there will be no further reduction of the public capital investment programme and a renewed focus on public private partnerships (PPPs).
In March, there were 441,193 people receiving unemployment benefits in Ireland.
