Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated: 17.05, 25 February
THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection has confirmed to TheJournal.ie that the weekly top-up payment to JobBridge interns won’t be doubled, as recommended by the National Youth Council of Ireland.
In a report released yesterday, the NYCI made several recommendations it feels would improve the scheme – including doubling the top-up received to €100 per week.
A spokesperson for the Department told us:
It is not possible to increase the top-up payment at the moment – for a person on €188 per week, a top-up payment of €100 for a 30-hour week would be more than the minimum wage and close to circa €12 per hour gross.
The NYCI described this response as “disappointing”, noting Tanáiste and Social Protection Minister Joan Burton had previously said an increase was a possibility.
A spokesperson stated that 58.5% of people under the age of 25 receive a weekly social welfare payment of €100 or €144 before JobBridge, not €188.
Burton again defended the scheme today, after it was criticised by Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy.
Yesterday, the NYCI said ”significant reform” of JobBrdge is needed to “enhance the experience of participants and increase progression into secure employment”, according to the NYCI.
The organisation’s report JobBridge: Stepping Stone or Dead End? explores the experiences of people aged 18-25 years who have participated in the scheme.
Since it was launched in July 2011, over 37,000 internship placements have commenced. There are currently 6,194 interns on the programme and a further 1,300 or so positions are advertised on the JobBridge website.
Satisfaction
The scheme is aimed at those who have been getting a jobseeker’s payment for at least three months. Participants in the scheme get an extra €50 per week on top of their social welfare payment.
Some 376 host organisations have taken on 10 or more interns and 45% of the 65,686 JobBridge positions advertised have never been filled.
Of those surveyed by the NYCI, 57% indicated they were satisfied with their internship, however 44% said they thought the scheme was used for free labour.
27% of people interviewed by the NYCI secured full-time employment and 14% secured part-time employment following their internship, 31% remained unemployed.
Speaking at the launch of the report, its author James Doorley said that issues such as insufficient monitoring, job displacement and inadequate income support were raised by participants.
JobBridge is providing valuable work experience for some and supporting others into employment: overall, however, the scheme is lacking in quality. As the scheme is being operated by the state and funded by the taxpayer to the tune of €85 million a year, we should demand and expect much higher standards and much better results.
The NYCI has made a number of recommendations which it thinks will improve the scheme, including:
The Department of Social Protection welcomed the publication of the report. A spokesperson noted that the study focused on the experiences of 18-24 year olds, who account for “approximately 27% of JobBridge participants”, adding: “On balance, the quantitative data in the report is positive.”
Considering recommendations
The spokesperson also referred to the independent evaluation of the JobBridge scheme, conducted in 2013, which found that three in five participants secured employment following their internship.
The evaluation showed that 61% of interns progress to paid employment after completing their internship. The 61% progression rate for JobBridge is among the best in Europe, where progression rates for similar internship schemes average just 34%.
A second independent review will be conducted later this year.
Junior minister Kevin Humphreys told TheJournal.ie he has met with JobBridge interns “who have completely changed their career and successfully use the JobBridge scheme to combat the problem of not being able to get a job without experience nor experience without a job”.
“Research shows the longer you are out of work, the harder is to get back to work. JobBridge is designed to break that cycle and the report from the NYCI shows that this approach works,” Humphreys said.
The Department said it will give consideration to the NYCI recommendations that refer to mentoring and support for interns.
Originally published: 13.28, 24 February
The employer should either have match the money the state offers or they shouldn’t be allowed to participate.
I have seen jobs in my local town for petrol pump attendants on the Jobridge scheme, who is that benefiting? Certainly not the intern. I have also seen one for a part qualified accountant with a business degree. Someone with that kind of skill should be getting paid €30,000+ a year, not €50 a week.
Instead of leaving college and getting a decent job, students are having to spend 9 months working for buttons for jobs that would normally pay above minimum wage. It’s just not right.
Indeed, an employer contribution is sensible. (And should have been the case from the beginning).
I saw an ad today for security. .”3yrs exp required “…this is in the DSp offive! I worked security in college nothing wrong with it but its nt jigh skill
I think for many people, who haven’t worked in many years, getting out of bed and going into work is a big achievement. That petrol pump attendant job would be great for a junkie trying to turn their life around after 10 years not working; trying to sort themselves out and get into a routine. Unfortunately some people have huge difficulties joining the workforce after being years away from it. Employers choose people with experience and references. In theory JobsBridge is a great idea. I totally agree is should be an extra €100 a week instead of an extra €50.
Jack there is nothing wrong with a petrol pump attendant job. I do that part time atm while I am studying for my masters via Springboard and it’s handy work and I get paid well particularly on Sundays. I may be over qualified for the role but I live 3 miles from it, it pays far more for 3 days than the dole or a full time job in Dublin atm after tax and travel and I meet interesting people every second of the day. I could have done another JB placement and received less for it and had to work for an extra 2 days as well. But I resisted and it is working out for me.
Sometimes you have to do what is good for you and not other people. We just all need to think less of what other people might think of our looks, positions, jobs, material things and focus on what will get us where we need to get to and ultimately enjoy life for a change.
Gearoid thats the most sensible suggestion for jobsbridge yet
I totally agree 100% there is nothing wrong with a service station attendant job. There is nothing wrong with any job. It’s better for everyone if people are working.
Communities, society, individuals and the economy all benefit with people working. We should be encouraging the long term unemployed into working.
Scambridge is a way for employers to avoid minimum wage!
It is not just €50 per week. It is €50 on top of your current social welfare payment.
This “gets them out of bed” point is soo patronising. When i was on jB i kept the skeleton of my normal work routine from school college work. Up at 6:30 gym 7-8, shower n breakfast 8-9 then usually library with laptop jobhunting until 1/2.
When somone heard Id turned down a Tus offer n brought up the gets u out of bed point i was so insulted by it. I said no to what i saw as pointless busy work at 6 euro n hour cos i wated an internship or job in my career are. In this area so many are over eager to jump to conclusions
‘We should be encouraging the long term unemployed into working.’
We should be providing proper jobs for people. That is what will ‘encourage’ people to work. Forcing people into poorly paid scam jobs isn’t ‘encouraging’ anything other than (justified) criticism of this attempt to push real job creation off into the distance
We should also ask how can we get employers to take on staff who are long term unemployed due to social issues, lack of motivation, lack of experience and possibly alcohol and drug issues.
JobsBridge wasn’t designed for college graduates who get up at 6:30 and go to the gym and are only a few months on the dole. JobsBridge was designed for people who have fallen through the gaps in society.
Jack I think we need to gently encourage our tds to do their jobs, to try to get them on the right track. How about some gentle persuasion to get all our multinationals to pay their fair share of tax. Nothing to harsh mind you. Perhaps a word in their ear. I’m not accusing them of being deliberately negligent in their tax affairs but perhaps unsure of their responsibility to the nation.
The age of the slavedriver comes to an end- The drivers shall become the slaves in the prison of their own making !
Would you do it?
Jack im afraid youre misinformed on this topic. JB was EXACTLY designed for college graduates. It was a clumsy way of dealing with a big symptom of the recession where 6 years in we had grads wiyh no exp of the working world, or none in their career area, on dole years n it was a demographic timebomb.
You are confusing it with things like Tus which WERE designed for long term unskilled unemployed. .accepting theyre not gonna have a career but getting them to do SOMETHING. .the line betwen the two has gotten blurred
Well said Gearoid. Employers should not be allowed to use (Jobsbridge) as a cushion to facilitate getting the right employee, normal employment practices should apply when there are jobs the same ones that have been used for decades.
Absolute Bolli%… Loads of grads are doing it, and post grads and experienced grads. Why? Cos JB has replaced the entry level job.
Fair dues Spiderman, best of luck on the Springboard course
So we give junkies and alcoholics jobs…jobs bridge is a total waste of time. Would you work for €50 or €100 a week? I don’t think so. It’s a wet dream for employers to take advantage of people. Why hire someone for €300 a week when you can get a more qualified person for €50 a week.
“Would you work for €50 or €100 a week? ”
In addition to social welfare don’t forget. I mean if you use that argument, then why would anyone work a minimum wage job? Using that logic, effectively, you’re working for an extra ~€3.80 an hour.
If I was on social welfare, had no experience or references and was having no luck finding a job I would jump at the opportunity. What’s there to lose? Rather than rot on the dole, which can be incredibly soul-destroying for motivated people, you can get a bit of extra money and get that all-important experience that will get you the full-time job. The majority of job-bridge interns find full-time work, so it has been a modest success.
If it’s affordable they could cover travel expenses, which would really provide an incentive.
And I’d be encouraging you to stop using that word junkie jack. It astounds me you think it’s ok to use that word.
What word would you use to describe a person who is free from drugs for years? I’m sure you wouldn’t call them a junkie, so why call active users it?
It looks like you over eat, so what if I started calling you a fat slob? Which is just as offensive as the word junkie.
Well said :)
I have a friend who is a drug user and he calls himself a junkie and he calls his other drug using friends junkies. They take junk.
It’s just a word.
Those junkies (sorry, people with addiction issues) pose a massive challenge to our society and we should engage them into the workforce through schemes like Tus and JobsBridge rather than trapping them in a poverty trap forever.
and it is €50 extra that the taxpayer has to fund, not the employer, who is getting a sweet deal from the Government. Most under 25s only get 100 euro on the dole and are now expected to work full time for 150 euro a week.
phew… that one is so out of sync its unreal. a 30 hour week? who says they’re doing 30 hour weeks? Well Joan, sorry to upset your agenda but aside from a rare advert of a 30 hour week intern on that site, it never is the case. you have interns taking up said 30 hour weeks and even 39 hour week, sometimes i see 35 hours but then you see they end up working 50 hour weeks. How is 288 more than min. wage? €12 per hour???
ah here, don’t insult us.
it wont be increased because no politicians son or daughter will ever have to survive on it
How is 288 more than min. wage? €12 per hour???
After tax presumably
Apparently €288 over thirty hours works out to be almost €12 an hour, my calculator must be broken so as it only says €9.60… And most jobbridge schemes I see are 39 hour weeks!
Well increase the minimum wage so lol
typical of them, fiddling with words as well as numbers. Paul Murphy knows how to belt around them and corner them proper cos he’s smart and they think we’re stupid.
we’re not talking 30 hours here Burton nor are the interns paid by the hour so whats your point? Oh do you think paying them by the hour would be better? Grand so, lets have it cos many of these interns are working 40 hours and beyond. So less of the flat rates, pay them by the hour and make the employers subsidise it. What you afraid of? Your buddies in business will be giving you a call? “Joan, what do you think you’re at?? I thought we had a good thing going?”"
ah yeah, i know how it works with ye lot, no point in burning bondholders or bringing in rent controls when all the mice are sitting exactly where you are!
Couldn’t agree more, the more qualified should be paid half from the employer and half from the social welfare, and a descent wage to match their skills. Anyone else be it younger, under qualified, but progressing through their training will have to show they want to move on and be rewarded with a rise in their wage and stage. If they don’t move forward give their wage to the people who have lost a lot through this greedy government
Perhaps Cupid
An attendance register for public record would be a good start to ensuring the TD’s actually attend work.
Set hours to longer, more normalised pattern.
Give them an accepted practice to follow such as finding their own way to work (a bit of a challenge for some I think) and finding their own food establishments and bars for AFTER work that they pay for themselves.
Have a job performance review at the end of end of every year and a way to ‘let go’ those that simply are not, or not able for their jobs.
They are so fond of getting everyone ready for work and using jobsbridge so,perhaps that should be the way to get into being a td?
In my opinion the employer should have to pay €150 for the employee every week. €100 of that to the employee and €50 to the social welfare to contribute towards the €188 payment! Then all 3 win… The government are cutting their social welfare bill, the employer is getting 40 hours of someone’s time for €150 and the intern is getting nearly €300 and good experience if it is a genuine position.
Yeah but that would make sense. So you can almost guarantee that it won’t be implemented, or anything like it.
JobBridge has been a win-win for businesses ever since it’s inception. Meanwhile taxpayers foot the bill and qualified graduates get grossly under paid. For a bill that size there should be much higher post-internship employment rate.
The 50 euro per week is not the problem, its the supermarkets, deli counters , petrol station etc abusing the scheme for cheap labour that is the real problem. A extra 50 on top is not going to fix that.
As someone who applied for an internship after leaving college with a degree, I took part in an “interview” and I must admit it was one of the final nails in the coffin for me looking for a job in Ireland. I would say more people have emigrated from this scheme alone than it has actually benefited. And, no I will not sweep your floor for 50 euro on the dole, hire a cleaner. Miserable, pathetic government driven scheme. I suppose it did keep a few of the wealthy wealthy. And in Irish politics isn’t that what it’s really all about??
How about?
-Have a subsidy 4 actual jobs as a bck to work incentive? An FT version of the PTJIS?
-Make a rule that JB HAS to go bck to the originial concept, 4 people with lots of education but no experience to get internships in high skill work…no more Tesco shelf packing n getting tea
I’m not against the idea of job bridge for highly skilled position that will lead to a job afterwards but most employers are just exploiting it for free labour at the moment with no intention of keeping on to the internees. Also can someone explain to me how it amounts to 12 euro an hour if you work 30 hours for €288 as the department spokesperson said, most internships are for 40 hour weeks which is €7.20 an hour and at 30 hours per week it works out as 9.20 per hour. Someone get that clown a calculator.
PMJ I presume its to do with taxes or something, like take home pay. I was confused too.
I worked in a high skilled Job bridge position after I completed my Masters. I’ve read a lot of negative stuff regarding positions requiring masters and PhD qualifcations etc etc but I had no experience and was struggling getting a “proper” job. Competition is very high out there. After 5 months of my JB placement I got a job. The company helped me with interview prep and references and really pushed me while I worked there.
There plenty of things wrong with the scheme. Like the €50 should be topped up by the company and they should have proper training schemes set up to benefit the employee and cannot apply with producing. Like a lot of things in this country, it was a good idea poorly executed.
In theory it’s a great idea to allow people to get necessary experience that would be otherwise very difficult to get, however it’s being abused by business owners who are trying to get 6 months free labour while giving nothing in return. How can anyone justify hiring a petrol pump attendant intern, what is that person going to get out of their 6 months “employment”?
Jobbridge should be abolished. It should be up to people themselves, like it was before.
Because the 1950′s to the mid 1990′s were so good here..
As a student, I take it you don’t accept any state assistance or grants?
I did one two years ago and the organization gave me 50 of the e60 it took to travel to and from the place each week when he could. He didn’t have to and I didnt get a job at the end but employers should commit to e50-100 of the wage costs which is a third of the min. Wage to employ a worker like.
You were lucky spiderman, my son was with Aer Lingus and wouldn’t get as much as a cup of tea from the company, working a 48 hour week of night shifts and travelling 50km each way from home. Absolute exploitation from a JB sponsor company…..he is now in Australia two years working with an airline and getting paid a decent wage.
In fairness Chris the firm I was with didn’t have a computer for me to use and I supplied my own laptop each day for months which pretty much destroyed the thing. It wasn’t ideal but I did the internship, finished it and went other ways for the last few years whilst I do further study.
I was lucky in that I got really good training and when I raised the point about the money I was paying 2-3 months in he really did accommodate me. There has been a number of interns there since but that is a wider issue in the industry I am in. If it is anything to you Australia is probably going to go bust soon and if this recovery is anything to go by your son with be home and working here in the next 2-5 years.
There have been rumours about Australia going bust for several years now, but why should it considering that there is still so much untapped wealth in the place. My son was home on holidays last summer and I asked him about coming home for good, I don’t think so even though he has an Irish girlfriend. I know several families who have sold up and moved out there, can’t say as I blame them really as the climate has a lot to do with it.
Well they said Ireland was going to go bust for a decade too. However we do not have the natural resources they have I suppose.
Why I say it is because of the property bubble that is getting out of hand. When you start hearing millions attached to things like houses and banks over extending people’s finances then there is always fear of a bust.
Should be scrapped altogether, it’s taking paid jobs out of the workforce
“Should be scrapped altogether, it’s taking paid jobs out of the workforce”
Clearly not the case. Jobs are being created all the time now.
As the economy grows, Job-bridge will fade in importance regardless anyway, as it becomes more of an employee market. But I see it as a modest success, it helped some people who might’ve otherwise found it difficult in an environment of high unemployment, get some valuable experience and references. They will reap the rewards later.
It’s not a matter of making Jobs Bridge “do better” it’s a matter of giving a fair wage.
It should be 200 a week, and the money should be taken directly out of politicians wages to fund it, call it a voluntary contribution goodwill gesture to compensate for the mess they caused.
€100 a week? Mother of God. The country is skint as it is without adding to the Social Welfare bill like that….
Ah Michelle Mulherin’s vodafone cherry points should cover it.
ohh but they are not technically on social welfare according to them beautiful job figures the morons in power peddle out to say the job numbers are down. And lets be honest if we can pay for some boot licking so and so 100k+ to advise bell enda and moan joan on how to pick their noses properly I think rewarding actual work is a good idea
If there’s a job at the end, there’s a job at the start! It’s 9 months free labour for company paid for by my taxes for friends and family to avail of!!
Well then Deaglan abolish scambridge altogether and let these employers do what employers are suppose to do if you need an employee then hire them and pay them, if you don’t like what you get then you let them go.
How many €50 a week will that save the Social Welfare budget?.
There is something totally unethical about employers getting paid for free labour no matter how some of these employers on here try to dress it up.
There is 2 ways of looking at this are we increasing the social welfare bill or in some cases subsidising emplyers to fill unskilled jobs that could b learned in a couple of days and should b just offered as proper jobs even if only at minimum wage. The dsp don’t care about the quality of jb internships as they impact well on the unemployment figures and thats a good enough end in itself.
I have have seen several of these jobscam ‘internships’ for cleaning jobs that is a bloody disgrace! It’s pure exploitation nothing more! An internship should only used in cases for very desirable positions and they should be paid! These internship were advertised in the Department of Social Protection! All true
The employers should pay all of their monies received and they still get cheap labour. A record of how many jobs are offered after these try out and experiences. Some are going to use this as a permanent cheap way to get labour.
It’s only abused because it’s so easy to abuse. Last year my employer got a booklet posted to him by the local social welfare group inviting him to a breakfast where he could find out how to take on am intern .. when he didn’t respond to that, they then rang him to follow up… They are handing unemployed people to these companies like candy to a baby. No one gets hurt apart from the lowly paid individual used and tossed aside. It makes me sick. .especially now with gateway & first steps , both of which are compulsory unless you want to lose money. I think the recommendations by the nyc are excellent and should be implemented immediately.
FG/LAB profit before people parties will defend the rights of the capitalist exploiter at all cost. Imagine “Labour” supporting economic slavery, servitude versus prawn sandwich socialism. A fair days work deserves a fair days pay.
It is below minimum wage slave labour, totally unacceptable, wrong and an insult to society. These governmental parasites are paying buttons to better their figures, which is shameful.
It’s been a great success: Enforce minimum wage laws so businesses don’t bother taking a chance on staff they have to train up and then get tax payers to pay these employees less than minimum wage so they will.
If the employers have work for people on jobs bridge then why not give them a full time job. Find this is just used for cheap labour and being allowed to happen . I know a place where 3 different people were sent on jobs bridge and all worked as hard as people fully employed who were receiving full time pay. Each of these 3 left because they also felt they were being used for slave labour and the other workers in the place were also outraged that the place had enough work for these people but would not give them full time job. These people were getting up every morning like the rest of the staff and using the @€50 to get too work and at end of the week although the had done has much work as the other employed they received nothing from the employer.
Job bridge is both a good and bad idea. I’m presently looking for a job in which I am fully qualified but every position I see it’s job bridge which is no good to me at all as I have higher qualifications than they are offering through job bridge. They do need to look at there training scheme and also look at the rate of pay if you’ve family 50 euro top up wouldn’t cover much.
What’s your speciality if I might ask?
I’ve worked in childcare for the last 7 years 5 years as assistant manager. Based mainly in Montessori room
Good montessori is an expensive business to run and the ones I know are are shortstaffed, but many seem to be single site operations rather than chains (which I think is a good thing).
As your focus is montessori management, you might think of offering services to several schools to handle their admin & management services. Each one might not be able to pay a huge amount, but given the massive workload the standalone schools have with regs and general admin, they might love the idea of a specialist who can provide accounting, admin, reg, and overall oversight assistance for a competitive rate.
Just an idea!
It is a good thing as having a chain of establishment you tend to loose the reason you started your business or career choice. It’s very expensive as regulations keep changing and the business has to change with it. And you can’t ask the parents to subsidize this as every article lately states that parents are struggling. I will have to look more closely at my options as I went into this to work with children. Thanks for the ideas
Good luck.
treble it- a fair days pay for a fair days work!
Why would I hire someone with no experience or references for treble that?
This is exactly the problem Job-bridge has tried to solve, with modest success.
This is not the “problem” JB is there to solve. Internships exist to aid career development and provide experiential learning, not to supplies free labour to fill unskilled/semi-skilled minimum wage jobs. If you don’t have the skills to interview properly that is no-ones problem only your own and means that you yourself as an employer have a skills deficit.
This used to be the way and it worked and fine & Employers were fine with it. The Irish Labour party are pushing Jobsbridge and other work related schemes so as to manipulate the Live register.
Scrap it altogether and bring back the entry level job..remember that?..Taxpayers shouldnt be paying the wages of private sector workers in a growing economy.
“Scrap it altogether and bring back the entry level job..remember that?..Taxpayers shouldnt be paying the wages of private sector workers in a growing economy.”
I would agree with this sentiment, but we still do have high unemployment, and Job-bridge was introduced when we were in a complete rut, and in danger of losing a generation of graduates to long-term unemployment.
Trust me some jobsbridge are in the public sector. It is making someone money and not the poor guys that spend the extra money on transport.
No, the Scambridge scheme should be scraped completely & treat people like human beings not disposable temporary labour support cheap businesses.
An employer contribution of minimum €50 per week is the one key ingredient missing from the JobBridge scheme. No employer should be targetted by a State subsidised sales pitch offering free labour. The interns are working real jobs at full-time level up to 40hrs a week, which leaves no time for other possible earnings. CE scheme participants by contrast need work just 19.5hrs per week for minimum €208 wage. It is a tough time for growing a business but employers have no entitlement to free workers. These are internships offering training and work experience with no accreditations, unlike apprenticeships that at least lead to marketable qualifications. #endtheexploitation
How about paying a person properly for a days work!
The water bonus should be trebled.
in order to prevent employers using job bridge as a form of slave labour once a job seeker has completed a period of months in that employment then the employer should be required to take on that employee at the going paid rate equalling the same amount of months as when on job bridge this would ensure employers and not abusing the system jobseekers would have far more to gain by participating
I think it’s very easy to moan about these schemes if you have never created a job or took a risk in starting your own business.
I have had 4 lads on Jobsbridge and 3 out of 4 have now full time jobs.
In that time I have broken my b@lls to expand the business and we have gone from 3 to 35 staff.
The country is bankrupt, there are very few jobs out there, it has helped 3 lads directly to get full time employment and also has helped me expand a business and employ people.
I certain circumstances this has been a success !
Lies
Why can’t it be done like a CE scheme, where you work the amount of hours you’re paid for? Someone getting €200 a week can only work 23 hours a week, and if the employer needs him/her longer they pay an hourly rate. Problem solved, I’m going to bed
Good point no one should be expected to work longer hours and not be paid properly for it! The job bridge should only be for half days not 40 hours!
No if the scheme is actually managed properly ……
Is the creep giving horses head the 2 fingers .
There should be a limit on th number of jb interns an employer can utilise in quick succession at any price. If an employer can access a string of high caliber grads or worse post grads free of charge where is the insensitive to employ anyone full time. I’m reminded of that awful saying …..why buy the cow if u can get the milk for nothing
I am sick to death of JobBridge, there were and are momentum program / schemes where the unemployed are forced to do and they get nothing extra, if you are on a 100 euro dole and are put on the Momentum scheme you do not get anything extra for travel or for anything or anything extra for job placement where it lasts 12 weeks and you have to work 37.5 hours a week to get your dole…
Crazy…
Also why is the BBC from London reporting the job losses in Dublin now and RTE is saying nothing? It happened today?
Its become a toxic brand and needs to be scrapped. A completely new scheme is needed with all the reforms suggested, oh with one addition that employers actually give the unsuccessful applicants some response and feedback as well especially when they actually went for the interview and clearly showed interest.
€100 extra a week is nothing for a good intern. I say this is a good idea. Both parties benefit.
scrap it. slave labour!!!!!
As an employer JB is ideal for ne one lookin for experience n stepping stone but I know that it’s used as exploitation of people which sickens me! I started work on a BTW scheme in ’95 with small top up from company but after 1 1/2 years I left due to been used n promised so much! The flaw with JB is time frame n pay, the old BTW was a better system, where employee gets their social welfare for 2 years n the employer pays an amount to make position attractive to both parties!
I think the employer should match it the government should pay around 100 matched by the employer
Good girl joan. Make em work, pay them nothing, then screw them in taxes in a country with a redicilous high cost of living. Broken system but clueless joan can’t see that. Hows that gonna work joan?
The real reason iMoan and her Department won’t increase the payments available is more likely to do with the fact that Dept of Social Welfare needs at least 280 JobBridge ‘interns’ per year to cover up the lack of work her own highly paid employees and consultants do. Her department has had some of the highest rates of absenteeism in Government over the last few years.
Interesting that the majority of people who participated found it beneficial. The naysayers will look for the problems rather than the solutions.
God forbid jobs scam people don’t get over paid they might go out on a mad spending spree
A spokesperson for the Department told us:
“It is not possible to increase the top-up payment at the moment – for a person on €188 per week, a top-up payment of €100 for a 30-hour week would be more than the minimum wage and close to circa €12 per hour gross.”
Where is the spokesperson for the department getting their figures from?
€188+100=288/30 is nowhere near €12. A person working 30 hours would be in receipt of 9.60 per hour. Not surprising either that the spokesperson would pick the low figure when most internships which are advertised are for 35-40 hours per week.
The only disappointing thing about Job bridge is that it hasn’t been scrapped at this stage. The amount of company’s exploiting it far outweighs the ones that aren’t
I think the JobsBridge scheme is one of the few good things this current Government has done but the extra €100 plus a Free Travel pass for the 9 months would make it an excellent Scheme.
Some on Momentum programs were forced to do it or loose the dole for 9 weeks, to work 37.5 hours a week for 12 weeks just to get their dole of a 100 euros… Crazy.
What about those on lower rates? Under 25 and it’s €100 and if you’re on jobseekers benefit, it could be as low as €84. So I would imagine that a large number of those on JB schemes are getting €150 a week
Why would they top it up. Don’t you know there is an election. Coming up. God they need all they can get for election trail
I think the first reform that should be made to this scheme is to remove the participants dole money and pay them €238.
It might shut up all the idiots saying that people are working for €50 a week. Bugs the sh*t put of me.
€288 a week (€188+€100 ) for 30 hours work equates to €9.60 an hour, not nearly €12 as stated near beginning of article
Because Ministers will need it to have a holiday around the world in the best hotels with the best wine and food this St. Patrick’s weekend, meaning it will be a week long really? How much will their holidays cost the tax payer this year?
You work from 6 to 9 months and in the end you are kicked out with no job. Free labour.
have your say