A Decent Job for All

26 Apr 2007

Today the INOU launches its Election Manifesto 2007. In it the organisation notes that the Government set itself a target in 2002 of eliminating long-term unemployment by 2007. Did they succeed? No is the short answer.

The CSO's Quarterly National Household Survey is used to measure unemployment: and according to it in Q4 2001 21,400 people were long-term unemployed, while in Q4 2006 27,100 people were long-term unemployed.

It is in this context that the INOU calls on all candidates in the forth-coming election to work to ensure that accessing a decent job becomes a realistic option for all. To ensure that this happens demands a level of integrated service provision across a range of employment, training and education bodies rarely seen before.

As Bríd O'Brien noted in the launching the manifesto,