1. What lessons are we learning from the Youth Contract and the impact of wage incentives? Rob Tabb Liverpool City Region Employment and Skills Board

2. Zombie statistic alert “There are 42 different incentive schemes available for employers to take on workers” Senior DWP official, Welfare to Work Convention, July 2012

3. “to get to Ballymena, well, I wouldn’t have started from here”

4. This is like déjà vu all over again

5. What is the purpose of the incentive? Job creation Getting somebody a job who wouldn’t have normally got the job It might be possible to have both

6. Employer feedback 76% said that they would have recruited fewer Apprentices if the incentive was not available 75% reported they would not have employed the individual without the subsidy 82% of these employers would reduce recruitment without the incentive 75% would reduce recruitment if the incentive was halved

7. “I don’t want 4 phone calls a day from people telling me about their different incentives. I want to go to one place and get one answer.” Hotelier, Liverpool City Region

8. Learning lessons? Are we?