The Labour Market Advisory Council Employer Engagement Sub-group

The role of the Employer Engagement Sub-group will be to assist the Council’s work programme as set-out in its Terms of Reference (see Appendix A). The Membership will provide views, advice and support on how best to engage with the needs of employers in a manner which supports the core objective of promoting higher levels of participation and reduced levels/durations of unemployment, and decent work for all.

Specifically, this will be with regard to the delivery, engagement and awareness of employer supports in relation to the implementation of the Pathways to Work strategy, the Department’s Employer Engagement Strategy and the implementation of the new Work Placement Experience Programme.

Moreover, this sub-group will seek to identify how the Intreo, Ireland’s Public Employment Services and part of the Department of Social Protection can enhance its engagement with employers and provide more employment and training opportunities to those on the Live Register and particularly those at risk of long-term unemployment.

Members:

The meetings will be held virtually, approximately once a quarter and dates will be set in to align with the schedule of the Labour Market Advisory Council.

The Employer Engagement Sub-group will support the activities of the Labour Market Advisory Council. Details on their role is as follows:

Terms of Reference for the Labour Market Advisory Council:

The role of the Labour Market Advisory Group is to provide advice to the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Government with regard to the efficient operation of the labour market with a particular view to increasing participation rates, minimising unemployment levels and reducing average unemployment durations.

The Council will have regard to UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 which promotes ‘sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’.

Employment Services Strategy for 2021-2025

• Providing the Minister for Social Protection and the Government with input to and advice on the development of a successor employment services strategy to replace Pathways to Work and covering the period 2021 – 2025
• Monitoring the implementation, and reporting on progress, with regard to progress of the new employment services strategy
• Identifying key issues arising from the implementation of the strategy and suggesting possible policy and/or operational responses
• Contributing to developing the wider public awareness of the new employment services strategy.

Evaluations and Reviews

• Providing the Minister for Social Protection with advice with regard to evaluation of policy and service effectiveness including contributing to the design of evaluation programmes, the interpretation of results and the identification of policy/service implications

Employer Engagement

• Providing views, advice and support on how best to engage with the needs of employers in a manner which supports the core objective of promoting higher levels of participation and reduced levels/durations of unemployment, and decent work for all

General Employment/Labour Market Policy Issues

• Advising the Minister on the importance of, and potential responses to, employment/labour market trends including changes in sectoral employment, changes in occupational share of employment, changes in earnings levels and changes in the forms of employment (e.g. self-employment vs waged employment, part-time employment vs full-employment, temporary vs permanent employment etc.) and any upskilling or reskilling requirements
• Providing advice to the Minister, as requested, on topical issues for example the perceived increase in so-called ‘bogus’ self-employment
• Providing advice on the labour market implications (including temporal distribution of income) of and policy options for addressing population/labour force aging