Annual rise in unemployment not acceptable

28 Aug 2003

The latest statistics revealed today in the Quarterly National Household Survey shows that 81,400 people were unemployed in the 2nd quarter of 2003, this is an annual increase of 4,200. Although the quarterly change shows a decrease of 3,500, the overall rise is unsurprising and it mirrors the increases noted in the monthly Live Register figures.

‘This escalating increase in the numbers of people who are unemployed or being made redundant is totally unacceptable’, said Eric Conroy, General Secretary of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed. ‘The Government is becoming complacent about tackling unemployment and in turn is doing little to stem the rise in unemployment or prevent factory closures. Although some of the new investments have been confirmed, certain sectors and locations are being starved of employment opportunities,’

‘Long term unemployment rose by over 5000 people and now stands at 1.4%, this compares to 1.2% in the same quarter last year. To prevent further increases in long-term unemployment the Government must input additional investment in creating and developing firms along with more supports and services to assist the unemployed and newly made redundant people back into the labour market. However, current Government policies and decisions are hindering such job creation and re-entry into the labour market and makes their goal of eliminating long-term unemployment by 2007 even harder to achieve.’

Interestingly part-time employment increased by 12,400 in the year to 302,000 and accounted for over 40% of the annual employment increase. The gender breakdown of this employment was 9,300 females and 3,100 males and the jobs were predominately in the health and hotel / restaurant sectors.