Over-50s are reaping benefits of jobs help Recruitment events are proving a big success War hero Jane Haining praised in parliament
Jobcentres in Renfrewshire have been targeting getting Over-50s back into work – and last year managed to help 335 more people in the age group secure a job.
They say that key to the success is having employers present in Jobcentres so that they can meet potential candidates.
Deborah Haveron, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) partnership adviser for Jobcentreplus Renfrewshire, said: “Increasing employer presence in our Jobcentres is a key activity to help businesses fill their vacancies.
“Locally, we’ve been working with McGill’s and recruitment agencies. To support this, we are holding regular jobs fairs.”
Recent recruitment events were held in Paisley, Renfrew and Johnstone Jobcentres where Street League, Verge, Fair Start Scotland, West College Scotland, Prince’s Trust and Engage Renfrewshire had the opportunity to speak to jobseekers about the services they offer to support people move into work.
Jobcentre staff also supported Glasgow Airport’s largest-ever jobs fair on Thursday, January 19, where more than 30 airport employers were sought to fill vacancies.
And Paisley Jobcentre hosted its own jobs fair to support recruitment in the logistics sector, with employers recruiting for roles in customer service, trainee bus drivers, drivers, baggage handlers, warehouse and production operatives.
Another such event will be held at the Paisley Jobcentre on Wednesday, March 1 between 10.30am and 1pm.
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows there are currently 3,545 people in Renfrewshire looking for work. Of those, 820 came from the Over-50 bracket which is 335 less, or 29 per cent, than at the same point last year.
While progress has been made with the older portion of the workforce, the improvement in young people’s work prospects has improved only slightly.
In the 18-to-24 age bracket, there were 605 pople looking for work, down 30, or five per cent, from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the five-year trend shows a similar theme, with there being 45 less jobless people now in the Over-50 bracket than five years ago and 75 more jobless in the 18to-24 bracket.
Ms Haveron added: “Across our jobcentres, work coaches provide every jobseeker with tailored support, helping to build confidence and develop new skills, so breaking down the barriers for those reentering the workforce; the extra focus being for people over 50 or those who have been out of work due to ill health.”
A Paisley mill girl turned heroine has been commemorated at Westminster.
The story of Jane Haining was told in the House of Commons by Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell in a special debate to mark Holocaust Memorial Day – the theme this year being “ordinary people”.
Jane, a missionary from Dumfries who worked for 10 years in a threadmaker’s in Paisley, died in a Nazi concentration camp after being arrested by the Gestapo for trying to protect Hungarian Jewish children.
Following the German invasion of Budapest in April, 1944, Jane, who worked at the Church of Scotland Mission School, was arrested but tried to reassure the pupils by saying: “Don’t worry, I’ll be back by lunch”.
Sadly, she was taken to the notorious AuschwitzBirkenau concentration camp.
Mr Mundell said: “Like almost all who arrived at the camp at the time, Jane died within a few weeks, at just 47, in conditions that few can comprehend. The only Scot to die in the Holocaust, she, in a very literal sense, gave her life for others.”
After leaving Paisley, Jane before becoming a Church of Scotland missionary in Budapest at the Scottish Mission School and boarding house for Jewish and Christian girls and, as dangers grew, helped arrange evacuation to safe countries such as the UK.
“Persecution led some Hungarian Jews to believe that it was necessary to leave their homeland, and Jane was instrumental in preparing children for a new life in Britain, teaching them about our domestic and social peculiarities,” explained Mr Mundell.
“Writing after her final visit home to Dunscore in 1939, she said, ‘If these children need me in days of sunshine, how much more do they need me now?’
“It is testament to Jane — and a reminder of her capacity for good — that it was the children’s needs that were always her concern and not her own safety.”