The qualifications of the unemployed

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 22nd MARCH 2016

Question

Using the latest information available will the Minister advise members of the age, occupation/last occupation and academic and professional qualifications of all those who have been unemployed for one year or more?

Will she further advise members of the number of persons who have been unemployed for one, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 years as well as those who have repeatedly been in and out of employment for whatever reason between 2008 and 2015 after training, work experience and self-employment?

Answer

Individuals who have been registered as Actively Seeking Work (ASW) with Social Security for more than twelve months are classified as long term unemployed. It should be noted that this group includes individuals who:

• are working in part time jobs, but required by the terms of their Income Support claim to seek additional hours. This individuals are classified as Underemployed'. For example: an individual claiming Income Support has been working 15 hours a week for over a year. Although they are employed, they are required to be working 35 hours a week and therefore will have remained ASW throughout the time they had this part time job. They would be receiving Back to Work support to find another job that brings them up to 35 hours, or to gain additional hours with their current employer.
• have worked for short periods of time (up to 28 days – but potentially more than once in different months). These short periods of employment do not break their unemployment duration'. For example: a long term unemployed individual secured a 3 week full time temporary job which they completed successfully. There is no opportunity for further work with that employer as they were just covering sickness absence. That individual returns to ASW upon completion of this temporary job, and their ASW duration' remains over a year and they are still considered to be long term unemployed.  

Analysis of those registered as actively seeking work is published on a monthly basis on the gov.je website. This includes data on long term unemployment and age distribution. The most recent published statistics relate to 29th February 2016.

There are 236 people registered as ASW for more than twelve months at the end of February 2016. 92 (39%) of these 236 are currently working part time and therefore classed as Underemployed'. As noted above, some individuals in this group will have also undertaken short periods of full time work during their current registration as ASW.

This group is made up of the following age groups:

The industry sector of the last employer (or current if working part time) is as follows:

This analysis of registered individuals is based on the classification of the individual's last or current employer for contribution purposes. It should be noted that employers in each category will employ a wide range of workers. For example, employers in the "construction" category will have employees who work as construction site workers, administrators and in sales. Social Security industry sectors recorded for the collection of social security contributions are separate to the industry sectors published by the States Statistics Unit.

The 2011 census on gov.je provides an analysis of the educational qualifications in respect of all individuals classified as unemployed. On an individual basis, this information is maintained as part of the personal record of each jobseeker and is not stored on a database that can be queried in report format.

The table below illustrates the duration of unemployment for the 236 individuals who have been registered as either unemployed or underemployed for more than 52 weeks. The figures include

• individuals who may have secured short term employment but for varying reasons this length of employment had not been sustained for periods greater than 28 days.
• 17 individuals who are receiving specialist support from the Jersey Employment Trust
• 5 individuals who are self employed
• 28 individuals who are on specific work activity programmes such as Foundations where they work up to 32 hours every week on community projects such as enhancing the Island Games venues and the Railway Walk. These individuals are classified as Unemployed' rather than Underemployed'

Back to Work has dedicated Employment Advisors who work with these individuals on a 1 – 1 basis, using a tailored action plan to provide the right support and training to meet their individual needs. As mentioned above, these figures include people who have had short term employment of up to a month. Back to Work encourages short term contracts that can act as a stepping stone into more permanent work, but also has a strong focus on in-work Advisor support to keep people in work, once they find a job.