An exploration of the personal, social and educational interventions needed to address youth unemployment in disadvantaged areas of the Mid-West region

The main aim of this research study was to explore the personal, social and educational interventions needed to support young people towards better future outcomes into employment. Youth unemployment is a persistent problem across Europe and young people are one of the most unprotected groups (Putun et al. 2016). In Ireland, current unemployment figures show that 17.5% of young people are unemployed (CSO 2020). There are a number of factors that impact on young people entering the labour market, if they are early school leavers, recessions and having poor employability skills (OECD 2014). Guidance counsellors have a critical role in supporting young people to navigate the changes in the current labour market (Bassot et al. 2014; Institute of Guidance Counsellors 2017; Indecon 2019). Guidance provision is available in the education sector, labour market and community sectors. However, it is evident, if young people experience mandated interventions, this can negatively affect their overall well-being and further impedes their employment progression (Whelan 2018; Kelly et al. 2019). An interpretivist paradigm was employed in this research using semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of six professional practitioners in different support provisions engaging with young people aged from 15 to 24 years (Thomas 2017). A thematic approach was used to analyse the data and to identify patterns and themes (Braun and Clark 2006). The main findings in this study indicate that a number of personal, social and educational factors can prevent young unemployed people from progressing into the labour market. A key finding highlighted the need to restructure the educational system to incorporate different pathways into education to support all students. Also, the creation of guidance provision for early school leavers to help them during transitional periods to prevent longterm unemployment. Furthermore, the findings indicate the necessity for holistic interventions and a more connective system across all services engaging with young unemployed people.