444,900 people on the Live Register

30 Jun 2010

Today the Central Statistics Office released a wide range of economic data including the Live Register. According to some commentators Ireland is technically coming out of recession. This will come as a surprise to most people living in Ireland and in particular to those who have lost their jobs and are having very little joy finding new ones. There are now 444,900 people on the Live Register. At the height of Ireland's unemployment crisis in the 1980s, early 1990s, the Live Register never went over 300,000. Over the past three years the Live Register has increased by 285,200. "How bad do things have to get before the Government finally sees that this is the crisis they must address," asked Bríd O'Brien, Head of Policy and Media with the INOU.

According to the last Quarterly National Household Survey for Quarter 1 2010, Ireland lost 115,700 full-time jobs. There was a slight increase in part-time employment of 7,700. The International Monetary Fund noted in its most recent report on Ireland that "Ireland is likely to emerge from its output contraction into a period of relatively modest growth potential and high unemployment." So Ireland emerging out of recession may make very little difference to unemployed people and young people entering the labour market.

To address this appalling vista Ireland urgently needs a coherent Jobs Strategy: one that envisions where the jobs of tomorrow will be and ensures that unemployed people are supported to take up the right education and training courses. "There is little point in threatening to cut people's social welfare payments if we do not know whether people are being offered a course that will provide them with a better future," Bríd noted. Yet this is exactly what the new Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010 is proposing.