Presentation given at the Dumfries & Galloway Employability Partnership event in December 2011. Professor Alan McGregor, University of Glasgow & EDAS Chair.

1. INNOVATIONS IN EMPLOYABILITY
DG1 – Hoods Loaning, Dumfries
2 December 2011

2. OBJECTIVES OF EVENT
1. To discuss what employability means for you and the people you work
with
2. To learn from each other’s experiences working with a range of
different groups of clients
3. To uncover common issues you confront in working to enhance the
employability of your clients
4. To come up with a set of innovative solutions that will benefit your
clients
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3. THE CONTEXT
1. Unemployment has been rising pretty much everywhere since the
summer of 2008
• For Scotland, the increase in people on Jobseekers Allowance has
been nearly 60,000 (76%)
• For Dumfries and Galloway, the increase has been nearly 1,000
(48%)
• Currently there are just over 3,000 on Jobseekers Allowance in
Dumfries and Galloway
2. As with all parts of the UK most unemployed people are not on JSA
• Dumfries and Galloway has 6,760 on ESA or IB and a further 1,100
are lone parents claimants
• Numbers in these groups have fallen since the summer of 2008 but
at a much slower rate than for Scotland as a whole
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4. THE CONTEXT (CONT)
3. In terms of long term unemployment in Dumfries and Galloway
• 21% of lone parents (230) have been on benefits for 5 years of
more
• 66% of folks on IB/ESA (around 4,500) have been on benefits for
5 years or more
4. Particular concerns surround youth unemployment
• Around 1,000 of Dumfries and Galloway’s JSA claimants are
under 25
• However, this excludes 16 and 17 year olds not in education,
employment or training
• Additionally, many young people have stayed on in school or
gone to college who would otherwise have tried to get into the
labour market
• Looking at official unemployment numbers and rates the
problem of youth unemployment is clear to see
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5. 0
5
10
15
20
25
Mar-08 30
Jun-08
Sep-08
Dec-08
Mar-09
Jun-09
16-24
Sep-09
Dec-09
25-64
Mar-10
Jun-10
Sep-10
Unemployment Rates, Dumfries and Galloway
Dec-10
Mar-11
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6. THE CONTEXT (CONT)
5. So much of this is driven by the economy and the demand for labour
• Number of monthly vacancies notified to JobCentre Plus in
Dumfries and Galloway dropped by 20% between autumn 2009
and autumn 2011
• For most recent 3 months 670 vacancies notified – allowing for
under-reporting this could represent around 2,000 vacancies
6. The real concern is that as world economies slow down
unemployment will continue to rise and possibly at an accelerated
pace
• Economic growth in the UK needs to be above 2.0/2.5% per
annum for a prolonged period if unemployment is to fall
substantially
• Most recent government forecasts in Autumn Statement suggest
growth well below 1% per year for the next 2 years or so
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7. IMPLICATIONS
1. Unemployment is a problem that is not going to go away in short run
2. As labour market deteriorates some groups suffer more than others:
• People outside the labour market trying to get in including young
people leaving education
• Those already among the more disadvantaged
3. This means:
• We need to make the employability and other resources available
work harder on behalf of our clients
• We need to be always looking at how to do better and innovation
sits at heart of this process
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