Ireland

The instrument has a high impact, as it links with other industry-led programmes. Offering 768 places countrywide per year. The benefits have exceeded expectations, which has resulted in the instrument (under Springboard+) being continued. When the initiative was first introduced in 2011, unemployment was at 15%. Unemployment has now dropped to 6.8% and over 200,000 more people are at work than in 2012. High level of withdrawal from programmes (for various reasons such as finding employment, experiencing financial difficulty, personal, etc) has proven costly, based on the cost of funding for each trainee, as well as the loss of opportunity for the individual. Measures to address and improve this have been outlined in the evaluation report, such as extra guidance for students and the consideration of additional financial support.

A total of 3,532 long-term unemployed people had completed a Momentum training course by December 2014. Almost 40% of this group went on to secure a full or part-time jobs, or go on to further education. The end result meant that 52% of participants that started the programme (6,500) were ‘signed off’ the unemployment register by the end of the project period. The final evaluation report suggests that the outcomes from the initiative compare well with comparable programmes in other countries. As expected, final cohort wages were above the Eurostat low-wage calculation, and 40% of the 3,500 participants achieved positive outcomes. The Momentum programme successfully met its objectives, which were to distribute training and employment opportunities across the country. The programme’s interventions reached all age groups, including young people, while catering for individuals with different levels of education and experiences of unemployment. The Programme had a total sanctioned capacity for a target of 6,500 participants, but only 3,500 completed training. So only half of the cohort would benefit, with the drop out rate costing Momentum.

The long-term period of observation post-M1 allowed M2 to have greater impact and run more smoothly. The model was transparent, with clear data available at all stages to show how effective the return to work process was. The data and evaluation of the instrument have shown that higher outcomes were achieved in M2 than in M1 across recruitment, training, placement and employment. This demonstrates that the most effective element of the instrument is in its continuous evaluation. A total of 34% of participants had obtained full-time employment in M2, and a further 11% had obtained part-time employment. These results are more than those achieved in the first programme, where 24% of participants had obtained full-time employment, and 6% had obtained part-time employment. The outcome for M2 is considered positive, because evidence shows that long-term unemployed (LTU) people have LTU exit rates to employment of around 10%. In addition, M2 took place in a better economic environment than M1, which meant that greater benefits were expected irrespective of the improvements made. That said, M2 tended to concentrate on a more traditional group of long-term unemployed people, whereas M1 concentrated on those who had been made unemployed as a consequence of the economic downturn.

From the 2016 evaluation, Skillnets delivered a total of 344,434 training days to 50,373 trainees, exceeding the overall targets set by the DES by 20% and 38% respectively, which impacted the accelerating recovery in the Irish economy by helping to address the increased demand and growth in training activity. The evaluation also highlighted continued positive employment retention and progression outcomes for trainees. The benefits of Skillnets exceeded expectations in 2016 in relation to the training offered, as follows:
- Total Trainees = 50,373 in 2016 (vs. DES target of 42,000), an increase of 3% from 2015
- Total Training Days = 344,434 (vs. DES target of 250,000)
- In-Employment Training Days = 277,701 (vs. DES target of 195,000), an increase of 6% from 2015
- 66,733 training days to 5,915 Unemployed/Jobseeker Trainees (vs. DES target of 55,000 days)