Local councils and job centres may spend €2bn a year on helping the unemployed find work but no-one really knows how effective the programme is, the NRC reports on Thursday.

Research into the effectiveness of integration projects by the work and income council RWI shows ‘councils and job centres don’t have a lot of information’, an RWI spokesman told the paper.
Two years ago, MPs set a 60% success rate as the target for reintegration projects. While that target is often reached, 75% of people found work through the schemes are unemployed again within a period of six months, the RWI said.