There should be greater co-ordination between the community-based Local Employment Service (LES) and mainstream Government manpower structures operated through FAS, according to a report from the National Economic and Social Forum.
The report also says that in a tightening labour market the LES should aim at least 80 per cent of its resources at the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups. At present almost a third of LES activity comprises other categories.
The NESF report also considers how the LES should co-operate with the Government's National Employment Action Plan. Under the NEAP, unemployed people can be compelled to go for interviews with FAS and accept jobs or training.
The LES operates in the State's 25 most disadvantaged areas and traditionally it has built up trust with clients by a stand-alone, confidential approach. The report proposes a new protocol whereby the LES accepts referrals from FAS. LES centres should be required to report back to FAS on whether referrals had "engaged". Once the client had done so, the confidential relationship of the LES with the referral would be maintained.
The report argues that while "clarification and integration of the respective LES and FAS employment service roles" is required, the LES should be allowed to retain its "brand" image with the long-term unemployed. To do so it should be allowed to retain "autonomy in relation to the co-ordination of services".
NESF policy analyst Mr Diarmuid O Conghaile accepted yesterday that relations between some LES centres and FAS had been difficult in the past. The report attributes the main cause of tensions to "problems of perception and differences in organisational culture" between the State agency and the more informal, partnership-based structures of the LES.
The report also proposes that LES centres should continue to work with other disadvantaged groups, such as lone parents, Travellers and people with disabilities.
It says a major reason for the difficulty in placing people from disadvantaged areas in jobs is the mismatch of skills between labour market supply and demand. While 40 per cent of unemployed people have only a primary education, 87 per cent of vacancies require second- or third-level qualifications.