From Department of Social Protection
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The Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys and Minister of State with special responsibility for Community Development, Joe O’Brien, today welcomed the publication of ‘Connecting People with Jobs: Impact evaluation of Ireland’s Active Labour Market Policies’, an impact evaluation of Ireland’s programmes for long-term unemployed people.
The joint report between the OECD, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the Department of Social Protection sets out the positive impact of Community Employment (CE) and Tús on the employment prospects of long-term unemployed people.
The impact evaluation report quantifies the difference that CE or Tús participation makes to outcomes for long-term unemployed people. Compared to similar people who did not participate, within three or four years after participation, participants have higher average annual earnings and are employed for a greater number of weeks. Participants are also less likely to be on the Live Register or be in receipt of other social welfare payments.
Minister Humphreys welcomed the report and said:
“The publication of ‘Connecting People with Jobs: Impact evaluation of Ireland’s Active Labour Market Policies’ is an important advance in developing an evidence base for Ireland’s efforts to help long-term unemployed people into work. It is encouraging that the report finds a positive impact of both programmes (Tús and CE) on employment outcomes.
“We know the harm that long-term unemployment does and we know the benefit to local communities from schemes like Community Employment and Tús. This report provides us with robust evidence of the positive impact of these schemes on participants and importantly, which cohorts of people benefit the most.”
Commenting on the results, Minister Humphreys stated:
“This research is welcome evidence of the positive impact of two of my department’s largest schemes. There are close to 23,000 people on CE schemes each year, with about 7,000 Tús participants per year since 2011. Over €440 million has been allocated for these schemes in 2024.”
Minister of State with special responsibility for Community Development, Joe O'Brien, said:
“I’d like to thank the OECD and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre for working with the Department of Social Protection on this report that tells us about how people fare after participating in either Community Employment or Tús. It is welcome that the results show a marked improvement in people’s employment prospects as a result of participation.
“As Minister with responsibility for Community Development I’m glad to have such a comprehensive and rigorous examination of what these schemes achieve for participants.”
The full report is available at OECD Report.
The report was produced as part of the project “Pilot studies on impact evaluation of labour market and social policies through the use of linked administrative and survey data” which is co-funded by the European Union (European’s Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) (VS-2020-0 368).
This report is the thirteenth in a series of country reports on policies to connect people with better jobs. It has been undertaken within the framework of the OECD’s project with the European Commission to help countries raise the quality of data collected and their use in the evaluation of the outcomes and effectiveness of labour market programmes. The OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS), the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME) of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) are working jointly on a five-year project that supports evidence-informed policymaking in the field of labour market and social policies. The project has a dual aim to improve the effectiveness of ALMPs based on the results of the CIEs and strengthen the countries’ capacity for evidence-informed policy making.
The project marks the achievement of Commitment 78 of the government’s national employment services strategy, Pathways to Work 2021-2025, which commits to ‘Implement, with the support of the Labour Market Advisory Council, a formal analysis of programme impacts, starting in 2021 with an analysis of the Community Employment Scheme.’
The analysis also examines how CE and Tús affect different population groups. It finds a positive impact of both programmes on earnings from employment in the long term.
For CE, employment outcomes and social inclusion outcomes are examined; for Tús, employment outcomes are examined.
The CE results differ across different subgroups of participants. The effects of CE on labour market outcomes are generally better for 30-50 year old participants.
Jobseekers close to retirement age seem to benefit from the social inclusion effects of CE.
Participating in CE has an immediate and persisting positive effect on recipients of Disability Allowance. One year after starting CE, the probability of claiming Disability Allowance is lower among CE participants than in the comparison group.
The impact of Tús varies slightly, with women experiencing a greater boost to their earnings in comparison with men. Women who completed Tús earned approximately €1,300 more in the 3rd year, while men in the same position earned just under €1,000 more than similar men who did not participate in Tús.
When analysed by broad age group, the youngest cohort (under 30 years) experience the greatest boost in earnings following Tús participation. In the 4th year after starting Tús, those in the youngest cohort (under 30 years) see a €1,600 increase in earnings from employment whereas 30–50-year-olds see a €1,300 increase. Earnings of participants over 50 years rise by only €1,000.
The report also analyses the typical individual trajectories across selected ALMPs and labour market states, the time spent in three conditions – CE, Tús, and eligibility for the two schemes – and the probability to move to other states, taking into account the role played by individual characteristics.
This analysis finds 16% of individuals become employed without ever participating in any support scheme, even after prolonged unemployment spells.
The ‘Connecting Ireland with Jobs: Impact Evaluation of Ireland’s Active Labour Market Policies’ report makes 26 recommendations under the following headings: