Employment Data
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Niamh Smyth (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

Pathways to Work, as a national employment strategy, addresses the key targets, as the Deputy has laid out. The key target strategy includes: supporting 75,000 long-term unemployed into employment by May and reducing long-term unemployment by 2.5% of the labour force by 2025; reducing youth unemployment to below its 2019 average of 12.5%; ensuring better labour market outcomes for those most at risk of poverty, including lone parents and people with disabilities; and improving labour market transitions by reducing the rate at which the newly employed progress into longer-term employment.
I acknowledge there is a challenge and a difficulty. However, it is fair to say that the strategies are in place and are a key target for us.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13