Double JobBridge payments, Youth Council urges
People working on JobBridge internships should have their pay doubled, the National Youth Council has said.
The Council has been analysing the JobBridge programme, four years since its introduction.
JobBridge provides work experience placements for interns for a six- month or nine-month period, to help overcome the cycle where jobseekers are unable to get a job without experience.
Interns currently receive an allowance of €50 per week on top of their social welfare entitlement. This is payable for the period of the internship.
The National Youth Council report, which is due to be launched later, looked at the motivation of 18- to 25-year-olds to participate, their experience in the scheme and how they were treated.
It also looks at the employment they have had since they finished their internships, and finds just over a quarter of people who take part in JobBridge get a full time job straight away afterwards.
A call to double the weekly pay rates to €100 will be among the report's recommendations.
Council spokesman James Doorley says the number who are not hired afterwards is too high.
"That is an issue," he said. "Our overall consensus is that the scheme has a lot of positive elements...but there actually aren't jobs available once a person has done an internship (in many cases)."
