Against a backdrop of rising unemployment and the continuing economic recession, the Lord Mayor Cllr. Emer Costello and City Council members are developing an agenda for the coming year that prioritises jobs and the protection of existing employment in a City that makes the most of the talents of its citizens.

One of the central mechanisms to progress this agenda is the establishment of the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment. It is intended that all the political parties and independents in the City Council, together with the communities they represent will take ownership of the Commission.  It will engage in wide-ranging consultation The Commission will communicate and engage with the people who are most experiencing the impact of the current economic recession and will do so in a meaningful way that sustains its operation well beyond the term of office of the current Lord Mayor.

The work of the Commission will link with and promote the delivery of a range of economic and social reports including the recently launched Economic Development Action Plan for the Dublin City Region.  It is intended that the outputs of the Commission will help inform the policies of the new Dublin City Development Plan (2011-2016) and will also contribute to the work of the Strategic Policy Committees.

Aim

The Commission will examine how economic renewal and employment growth in the city can be better promoted by a range of agencies including the City Council. The Commission will identify and make recommendations for actions in the key areas of:  (1) Unemployment & Employment, (2) Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance, (3) Education Skills and Training, and (4) Volunteering & the Social Economy. 

Themes and Working Groups

At its inaugural meeting the Commission on Employment agreed four key themes of research :

1.      Unemployment & Employment,

2.      Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance

3.      Education Skills and Training,

4.      Volunteering & the Social Economy. 

Members of the Commission were invited to identify which of the themes they wished to focus on and the following two working groups emerged:

• Working Group 1 :  Unemployment, Employment, Business, Entrepreneurship and Finance
• Working Group 2:   Education, Skills, Training, volunteering and the Social Economy

The Working Groups may where necessary establish sub-groups to examine specific themes.

Working Group 1

Unemployment & Employment Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance

Objectives

• To  profile  the nature and extent of the unemployment crisis in local areas, with reference to age, gender, social class etc and with particular emphasis on youth unemployment .
• To identify potential unemployment blackspots and make recommendations for future regeneration approaches and services to unemployed people, including the identification of innovative ideas and approaches that are being tried in other countries/areas. To profile employment in Dublin and identify existing or future opportunities for employment creation and enterprise growth.
• To examine the efficacy and efficiency of labour market information systems and media as it functions in a changing technological environment to serve the needs of employers and job seekers at all levels in the recruitment process.
• To explore potential growth sectors such as Green Technology, Creative Industries, R&D, Cultural/ Tourism / Heritage enterprise and Retail.
• To identify areas of low economic activities and explore possible strategies for developing enterprise in these areas
• To identify opportunities for the expansion of employment in existing business
• To place a target number of young people in job placements
• To identify the needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses and propose measures that would better facilitate the development of a positive enterprise culture.
• To identify and use case studies as a means of identifying good practice in business, entrepreneurship
• To focus on the current difficulties in access to finance and to identify sources of funding
• To focus on the personal impact unemployment has on people’s lives

Working Group 2

Education, Skills, Training Volunteering & Social Economy

Objectives:

• To identify issues and gaps in the education, skills and training systems to support Dublin’s performance as a hub in the Smart Economy.
• To identify skills shortages and identify immediate measures to ensure training and skills development is responsive to current need and provided in an accessible and timely manner that is targeted to minimise the length of time a person is unemployed.
• To identify the potential for internships/work experience programmes throughout the City 
• To identify and use case studies as a means of identifying good practice in the area of training, volunteering and social economy
• To identify the potential of volunteering and its positive role in the economic recession in providing an individual with an opportunity to maintain or update their skill base and make a connection with their community and society. 
• To identify the benefit to the exchequer of people being employed through community employment schemes and the social economy

Methodology

The Commission will build on the considerable work and research already carried out in these areas and will focus on bringing forward proposed actions that will address the problems and opportunities.

The Commission will be supported by the executive of Dublin City Council through the auspices of the Assistant City Manager, Planning & Economic Development Department and in particular, the Economic Development Unit of that Department.

The Secretariat will prepare Issues Papers for the Commission and the Working Groups that will summarise reports and issues arising in the four key areas.

Relevant stakeholders will be invited to make presentations with their key recommendations on tackling unemployment and promoting economic development to the Working Groups.  The Working Groups will report back to full Commission meetings on progress regarding their consultation.  Working Groups may also wish to undertake field trips to certain projects and these will be arranged as required.

Actions arising from the consultations with the stakeholders will be identified and progressed through the Commission.

As well as meetings with the key stakeholders the Commission will invite submissions from members of the public and interested organisations.  This Call for Ideas/Action will be widely publicised through a variety of media including print media, internet, emails, social networking etc.

The Commissions final report will be presented to the May 2010 City Council meeting.