INOU cautiously welcomes reduction in unemployment

11 Mar 2004

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed welcomes the latest unemployment figures from the Quarterly National Household Survey announced today. The figures for the 4th quarter of 2003 show a reduction of 12,400 people, bringing the total number of unemployed people to 86,500. The unemployment rate as a result decreased and now stands at 4.5%.

‘We welcome these figures but again reiterate that complacency within the Government cannot set in given the increases in the number of redundancies announced so far this year’, says Mr Eric Conroy, General Secretary, INOU. ‘The predictions for 2004 are for the unemployment rate to exceed 5%.’

The figures reveal that all of the annual growth in unemployment was recorded in the Southern – Eastern region. Also the largest annual increases was amongst those aged 20-24 years. Effective regionally balanced development is needed to ensure that these young unemployed people can re-enter the labour market.

‘We also welcome that full-time employment accounted for two-thirds of the annual employment growth, which is in contrast with earlier quarters where part-time employment accounted for most of the growth’, Mr Conroy added.

Lastly, the INOU is disappointed that the figures released relate to six months ago. Given the constant changes in the labour market more up-to-date figures are needed, similar to those released monthly in the UK.