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Investment in Qualityholding are significant; these include the provision of a frameworkto their use of time, of social contacts wider than their home/neighbourhood provide, and of opportunities for personal developmentand skill acquisition. In addition, they are frequentlyconscious of a higher social status and have a heightened sense ofbelonging to, and participating in, society (Gallie, 2002) It is forthese very reasons that organisations seeking equality and fullinclusion in society for socially disadvantaged groups (people withdisabilities, Travellers, refugees and asylum seekers, ex-offenders,older people, etc.) make access to employment on the same termsand conditions as the rest of the population a key element of theirprogrammes.8.9.2 Vulnerable groupsBarriers to employment, however, still exist for groups of workingaged people in the Irish population. The low national rate ofunemployment conceals much higher unemployment rates and,perhaps more significantly, high levels of discouragement fromentering the workforce among such different groups as people withdisabilities, older workers, people in receipt of supplementarywelfare, Travellers, women in home duties, young peopledisaffected from school, adults with mental illness, lone parents, exoffenders,and people recovering from substance addiction. Each ofthese groups has particular and multiple problems but they are alikein facing obstacles to their employment prospects (EuropeanFoundation for the Improvement of Living and WorkingConditions, 2002a). These obstacles arise in part from limited skillsand personal and family problems but also from poor livingconditions, lack of access to education and transport, discriminationby employers and local labour market conditions.Pervasive technological change and more intense internationalcompetition have impacted on most parts of the national labourmarket to create a situation where people unable or unprepared toadopt unfamiliar jobs, different work patterns and new skillsrequired by the knowledge economy are increasingly at risk of396