What do the statistics tell us about our community?

The two main actions which were pointed out as having reduced unemployment rates in the area were:
1. Encourage the creation of new jobs (31.05%)
2. More opportunities to do training, strengthen lifelong learning and internships (27.85%)

Difficulties in accessing the job market were underlined as: knowledge of the language and inability to feel confident in an interview. The principal barriers discussed were that of age above all when you are over fifty years old and problems in certifying experience with official documentation.

This therefore underlines the need for services and training which assists members of the community to repeat courses in order to receive certification. Another need is that of employment guidance which is more personalised.

In the field of employment, stakeholders expressed a need to study more in depth the motivations and concerns of young people who are currently neither in employment nor in any training. A currently reality discussed regarding the situation of young unemployed people is that they have stopped signing up for services which are there to help gain employment and of those who sign up very few respond to job offers which are posted. Other information coming out of the employment sector is as a result of the existing black/informal economy, they see a great need to regulate the economy.

In addition, there is a need for more training for those people who have been unemployed more long term, for young people who are unemployed in the community and better coordination between training and the existing working world. This can also be achieved through the expansion of more internships and activities to encourage labour insertion which are outwith but do not contradict other welfare support and are an effective alternative. Lastly, stakeholders from the employment sector highlighted the importance for those initiatives which encourage labour insertion are long term.