Time taken from registration to first job entry

Administrative data shows that most participants who entered work did so within the first few months of registering with a Job Broker. Thus, nearly one-half (44 per cent) of those who had entered work had done so within one month of registration, 68 per cent had started work within three months and 83 per cent had started within six months. There was, however, a small proportion (six per cent) who entered paid work after 12 or more months.

The survey data also shows that most participants entered paid work within the first few months of registration, albeit at an increasingly slower rate (Kazimirski et al., 2005:74-78; Legge et al., 2006:154-158). Figure 4.2 shows the cumulative entry into work by week since registration, and illustrates the slowing down of job entry over time – the convex shape of this curve is typical of labour market programmes (although the high rate of job entries at 52 weeks is less common).

Figure 4.3 Time taken to enter first post-registration job

The survey data also tentatively suggests that the proportion entering employment within a few months of registration increased as the programme evolved (Table 4.1).41 _{Overall, 65 per cent of those moving into work from Cohorts 1 and 2 had done} 41 _{This comparison between the findings from Cohorts 1 and 2 and Cohort 3 is}

so within three months of registering and by Cohort 3 this had increased to 70 per cent. This increase reflected participants entering both employee work and self- employment more quickly by the time of the third cohort (see Table 4.1).

That around a sixth of surveyed participants entered employment within one week of registration confirms the qualitative finding that Job Brokers could register people already in work or about to accept a job (Corden et al., 2003:91). Indeed, the proportion moving into employee work within a week increased from 14 per cent for Cohorts 1 and 2 to 20 per cent for Cohort 3. People in work or very close to entering work at registration could still receive a service from Job Brokers that helped with their transition to employment. They could have sought support from Job Brokers because they were in part-time work, were on sick leave but still with a contract of employment or wanted to extend their Permitted Work

In addition, changes in Job Brokers’ contractual arrangements, in particular the introduction of the 25 per cent minimum requirement for registration to job entry conversions in October 2003 and district profiles from April 2005, gave Job Brokers a financial incentive to register and prioritise people closer to work (see Section 3.2.2) (Lewis et al., 2005:51) (Davis et al., 2006:50). Job Brokers could work with people, sometimes using other programmes within the organisation, before registering them so that they were confident that they registered people who were likely to gain paid work and/or they managed the timing of the registration so that their activities were not capped by Jobcentre Plus (Davis et al., 2006:28). Some Job Broker staff felt that following the introduction of the 25 per cent conversion rate minimum requirement they had to focus on those participants that were more job ready (Lewis et al., 2005:51).

Table 4.1 Time taken for participants to move into employment

Column percentages Employees Self-employed Permitted work All types of paid work

Cohorts 1 Cohorts 1 Cohorts 1 Cohorts 1

and 2 Cohort 3 and 2 Cohort 3 and 2 Cohort 3 and 2 Cohort 3

Within 1 week 14 20 11 13 15 8 14 18

More than 1 week-1 month 17 22 18 29 18 25 17 23

More than 1-2 months 13 18 18 21 15 18 14 18

More than 2-3 months 10 11 9 10 10 13 10 11

Over 3 months 46 29 43 27 42 37 45 30

Bases: Cohorts 1 and 2 – All registrants who entered a post-registration job and who provided information about their first job

Cohort 3 – Registrants who entered a post-registration job of at least eight hours per week (information on date of start of first post-registration work missing for one case)

Weighted cases 1,377 647 177 62 355 63 1,907 772

Unweighted cases 1,365 665 174 66 364 59 1,903 790

Analysis examining the personal characteristics of participants and how long they took to move into paid work is largely inconclusive (Kazimirski et al., 2005:75-78; Legge et al., 2006:155-157). However, analyses of both Cohorts 1 and 2 and Cohort 3 suggest that those with (higher) qualifications took longer to move into work. Possibly more of those with qualifications were willing to spend longer finding higher-skilled jobs that suited their experience; or perhaps it became relatively more difficult for some of those without qualifications to secure work after this period of registration.

The Cohort 3 data also suggests that participants with children, especially lone parents, were likely to take a relatively shorter time before entering work, whilst Cohorts 1 and 2 reveal that lone parents were more likely than other household types to enter employment within six months of registration.

Changes in perceived health status and timing of moves into work can be analysed with Cohorts 1 and 2, and this shows that entries into work occurred around the time of reported better health to a limited extent (Kazimirski et al., 2005:58-59). Job entries tended to be early for those who started off in good health but whose health later declined, and were late for those who started off in poor health but whose health improved. Thus, 22 per cent of those whose health improved entered work within a year (but not within six months) whilst only 15 per cent of those whose health declined entered work in this time. Those whose health remained bad or very bad but who nevertheless entered work, were more likely to do so within one month of registration than those whose health remained good or very good (42 per cent compared to 31 per cent). In contrast, those whose health remained good or very good were more likely to take over a year to enter their first post-registration job than those whose health remained bad or very bad (seven per cent compared to two per cent). This may reflect a less hurried approach to jobseeking among some of those in relatively stable good health; or it may be that those in poor health become relatively unlikely to start work unless they did so quite quickly after registration.