Sir Reg Empey: "Helping people back to work is number one priority"

"I am focused on ensuring that training, aimed at providing the skills required to compete for employment, is there for anyone who wishes to avail of it. Programmes like Steps to Work, Pathways and the new all-age apprenticeship provision, ApprenticeshipsNI, have been introduced to equip people with the necessary skills for employment."

From what I can gather on the ground (certainly in Limavady) the only thing Steps To Work is really offering is Essential Skills training, not a bad thing to have at the end of the day, though my main concern is that a number of employers would have no idea what Essential Skills really are. I see the same problem as the introduction of the BTeC's in the late 80's, employers had no idea what they were and promptly ignored them. Ultimately Sir Reg, with all good intentions, is creating a baseline skill level for jobs that don't exist.

If you look at the IT sector in Northern Ireland if you don't have a degree of some form then you have no real chance of getting anywhere. Right now, if you have grade C or above GCSE's then you have a option to do a two year Access course to then enable you to complete a three year degree. So it takes five years to make yourself employable in the IT sector, even after all that you have the 100:1 ratio of applicants to job to contend with.

It says something when a skilled, experienced worker has to say on public television that he applied for a job as a cleaner and didn't get it because he wasn't qualified or that 350 people apply for one driving job in Coleraine. Enabling the training of skills is one thing but it doesn't solve the immediate problem, while sales are down within companies the requirement for labour will remain low. It's only in the last two years that having a GCSE actually mattered and now the ratio of applications to jobs is so disproportional employers can cherry pick, even at the manual labour opportunities, on who they want to speak to.

It was something that I noticed during the last Limavady jobs fair, employers were just happy to offer the very least they could, remember they are going through the cashflow problems too. So in order for them to keep costs down the labour costs will be as low as possible. The next two years or so will be about retaining the bottom line. This is all breadcrumbs under the table at the moment and there's no real sign of it getting better.

There's been much emphasis on jobs but no emphasis on creating microbusinesses, self employment, entreprenuership or anything like that. What is needed in Limavady right now is discussion, "what does Limavady need?", and a clue it's not construction or house building. How about a service based business, here's 105 ideas to get you started (it's an old link but still relevant), if you are into IT and computer programming then have a look at the jobs that people need doing. There seriously needs to be a shift in thinking, the enterprise agencies should be bunged with people wanting to start up but as there's financial benefit to sticking your neck on the line, it's actually easier to claim. I just wish Invest NI would actually invest in NI. If they kick started the Start A Business Programme with a decent startup grant of £1000 and measured the output of each startup perhaps things would start to change. If you can bootstrap a business from nothing then that's great but it's hard work.

Helping people back to work is number one priority - N. Ireland Minister Empey
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Empey announces additional support in respect to economic downturn in Northern Ireland