Reduction in LR figures yet high level of redundancies

2 Apr 2004

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed welcomes the reduction in the live register figures announced today. In the unadjusted figures a decrease of 4,247 people was recorded in comparison to a reduction of 300 in the seasonally adjusted figures. The overall unemployment rate now stands at 4.6%.

‘These figures are to be welcomed but taken cautiously given the high number of redundancies already recorded this year’, said June Tinsley, Policy Officer INOU. ‘2003 saw the highest number of redundancies recorded in 19 years and already the figures for January and February 2004 are in excess of those recorded in the same months last year. It is not a time for complacency but for action to ensure appropriate employment opportunities for all’.

‘The majority of these redundancies are in the manufacturing sectors and are geographically spread across the country. Suitable alternative employment opportunities must be available to these newly redundant workers in those localities’.