Thanks to Martin for pointing out the Graduate Talent Pool website partly funded by the Department of Business and Innovation in the UK. It is worth studying this scheme very closely as a model for matching graduates to businesses willing to supply graduate experience opportunities backed up by a relatively flexible social welfare arrangement. The main potential benefits of such a scheme is to prevent the decline in skills and loss of potential among graduates caused by prolonged spells of unemployment. Potential costs include direct substitution of existing employees and decline in labour market standards, as well as taxpayer costs associated with marketing and managing the campaign.
link here
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In "Further Measures to Support National Recovery" (23/06/09), the Irish Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is explicitly concerned about the problems of "deadweight" and "displacement":
"In particular the Scheme will be
designed and implemented in a way which minimises the risk of the taxpayer supporting jobs which would not have been lost (deadweight), or supporting jobs in one firm at the expense of other jobs which are simply
lost in another firm (displacement)."
http://www.entemp.ie/labour/market/further_measures_to_support_
national_recovery.pdf
Also, this document states that the goals of Temporary Employment Subsidy Scheme are as follows:
- help the economy retain its productive capacity and employers retain the labour, knowledge and skills of the workforce thereby supporting a faster return to sustainable growth;
- help employees retain their jobs, and
- ensure that economic and fiscal stability is promoted by avoiding the cost of statutory redundancy payments and the longer-term cost of social welfare
some of the faq's and answers from the british scheme are below.
Why aren't you subsidising places, especially for SMEs?
We are making funding available for infrastructure, including a matching service, with a view to making the process as simple and cheap as possible for employers. We will also be making extra help and advice available to SMEs which wish to offer graduate internships. However, we will not be offering direct funding for internships. We have to target funds to areas of greatest need and even in a recession graduates do not come in that category when compared with other sections of the employment market.
If some internships won't be paid at all, how will you ensure that participants aren't exploited?
We are committed to working with the TUC, employers and their representatives to ensure that Graduate Talent Pool internships offer genuine opportunities to enhance graduates' employability and to improve their career prospects. The Graduate Talent Pool website features detailed guidance for employers about how to set up, and get the best out of, an internship, and graduates can find out (at http://www.direct.gov.uk/graduates) what they can expect from a quality internship opportunity. HEI careers services may also be able to offer advice to any participants who have questions or concerns or about the terms of an internship.
Why are you allowing unpaid internships? There are obvious equality issues.
We are certainly encouraging employers to pay a wage which reflects both the value of the intern's contribution and the level of training and support offered by the employer, but we accept that some employers, in certain circumstances, may wish to offer unpaid internships. 2009 graduates already receiving Jobseekers Allowance for 6 months or more will be able to do an internship for up to 13 weeks alongside claiming an allowance and looking for work. This means that unpaid internships will be accessible even to those without personal or family sources of financial support.
However, it will ultimately be for graduates themselves to weigh up the potential benefits to their employability of any such internship offer, and so decide whether to accept it. HEI Careers Services may offer advice if necessary.
What about substitution?
We have always been clear that internships are not a substitute for real jobs. They will involve time-limited project work, or a programme of work experience, so interns will not replace other employees.
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