Interventions for Sustainable Information Society

Employment for Disadvantaged Groups

e2001 Conference

Venice, October 2001

Susan O’Donnell, Models Research

KISEIS Study

• Studying interventions for IS employment for disadvantaged groups

• Began July 2001

• Final report in mid-2003

• Includes field studies in four countries: Ireland, France, Spain and Finland

Why disadvantaged groups?

• Social inclusion central to IS policies

• Measured by rates of Internet use

• EC - e-Inclusion report September 2001

• Disadvantaged groups have lower rates of Internet use

Why employment?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

employed unemployed retired

Internet use

Why IS employment?

• Significant skills shortages across Europe

• ICT technician: 600,000 to 1m needed

• ICT professional: 300,000 to 500,000

• High-end ICT skills will ensure sustainable employment

Why interventions?

• A market-led expansion of the IS will not tackle exclusion

• Digital divide growing in Europe

• Less than 17% of European workers have ICT training provided by employers

• Only 4% of low-income earners have ICT training provided by employers

Why interventions?

• Public funds for high-level ICT education limited to third-level institutions

• Third-level education out of reach to many experiencing disadvantage

• High-end ICT training programmes expensive or unavailable in many regions

EMPLOYMENT Initiative

• Operated from 1995-2000

• Funded projects to improve access to the labour market

• App. 200 projects across Europe had an information society dimension

• Target groups: unemployed, women, disadvantaged youth, disabled people

Types of IS interventions

• ICT training (most popular intervention)

• Service provision (local information services, local employment services…)

• Enterprise development (including self-employment in IS sectors)

• Online support services

Were the interventions successful?

• KISEIS field work Jan-June 2002

• Interviews with former EMPLOYMENT project participants

• Interviews with employers

• Case studies of mainstreaming initiatives

Preliminary work in Ireland

• TRAMLINES project (1996-1997) trained 25 unemployed people

• MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional)

• FOUNTAIN project (1998-2000) trained 61 young early school leavers

• ECDL and MOUS certifications

• Evaluations in 1998, 1999, 2000

Lessons from the Irish experiences:Which interventions work?

• Need a strong local IT sector

• Training in certifications in demand by employers

• Training in customer service skills desired by employers

• Continued training inputs by employers

Lessons from the Irish experiences:Which interventions work?

• Flexible training organisation

• Training programme well-designed, sensitively delivered

• Personal support for trainees

• Mix of training approaches

Lessons from the Irish experiences:Which interventions work?

• Appropriate recruitment, selection and induction process for trainees

• Adequate training allowances

• Targeted support for trainees with low educational achievement and women

• Support for childcare and career guidance for single parents

Dissemination of results

• Policy-makers at national and EU level

• Policy areas: employment, information society, life-long learning, social inclusion

• Developers of intervention programmes

• Researchers and evaluators of programmes

Contact

Susan O’Donnell

Models Research

Abbey House

15-17 Upper Abbey St.

Dublin 1 Ireland

Susan@models-research.ie

www.models-research.ie