Long-term unemployment up to 5.3%

15 Jun 2010

Today the Central Statistics Office released the Quarterly National Household Survey for Quarter 1 2010. Quarter 1 covers the months January to March. "What is so striking from these figures is the continuing job losses and the jump in long-term unemployment" said Bríd O'Brien, Head of Policy and Media with the INOU.

It is 1997 since long-term unemployment was over 5.3% in Ireland. Long-term unemployment now accounts for 40.9% of the unemployment figure. A year ago when unemployment jumped significantly as the recession started to really bite, long-term unemployment accounted for only 22% of unemployment. During the past decade it ranged between a quarter and a third of unemployment.

Over the past year 115,700 jobs have been lost: 46% of these job losses were in Construction and 17% in Industry. 79% of the job losses in full-time employment were male. There was a slight increase in part-time jobs of 7,700, which is a drop in the ocean, but a different experience for women and men. Women's part-time employment fell by 3,600 while male part-time employment grew by 11,400.

The CSO introduced a new table today which captures the impact of educational attainment on employment and unemployment status and in particular highlights the exclusion facing many people who left school early. "During the boom years many young people who left school early were able to find work," said Bríd. "But without significant investment in their further education, most of them are facing a future of long-term unemployment", she concluded.

In the recently published Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill proposals to further penalise this age group for not engaging in training were proposed. The INOU strongly believes that this is not the way to proceed. What is urgently needed is an integrated Jobs Strategy that employment, social and related services are capable of steering unemployed people through so that they have a real prospect of a decent job in the future.