Time to deliver

16 Jun 2011

Today the Central Statistics Office released a range of information including the Quarterly National Household Survey for the Quarter 1 2011 which covers the months January to March. "The most startling statistic in today's release is the number of people long-term unemployed" said Bríd O'Brien, Head of Policy and Media with the INOU. This figure now stands at 162,800 or 55% of those unemployed. This figure has increased by 45% on the same period last year.
Total unemployment increased over the year by 7.5% but fell over the quarter by 1.1%. However, this quarterly decrease in unemployment is not reflected in an increase in employment as this figure also fell by 1%. Employment is now back to early 2003 levels: back to a time when there were only 86,700 people unemployed. This is in stark comparison to today's release which shows 295,700 people were unemployed in Quarter 1 2011.
"The Government has put job creation at the heart of the agenda," noted Bríd. "An agenda they must start to deliver on as a matter of urgency," she concluded.