Figures released by the CSO last week confirm that unemployment continues to rise, despite government actions to counter it. The latest seasonally-adjusted live register figures confirm that 447,900 people are claiming assistance, an increase of 2,800 on the corresponding period last year.
Commenting on the figures, Mr Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party said that the “...unemployment statistics from the CSO demonstrate yet again that the reward for austerity policies is higher joblessness. Behind this latest rise in the figures signing on is the more significant hike in those characterised as long-term unemployed, which has increased to over 40 per cent of claimants, compared to 31 per cent this time last year.
“If one then factors in the emigration figures, you can see we have a growing social disaster on our hands. What will be the response of this government? Yet more cuts and impositions on working people and the unemployed!” said Mr Higgins, a TD for Dublin West.
Mr Higgins said that, even if exports were to continue to rise, and if some foreign direct investment did arrive, it would not be adequate to offset the destruction that has taken place since the crisis began. He said this was even more so the case if “the government keeps killing demand in the economy and diverting revenues to the bondholders and ECB.”
“It was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results each time. This approach sums up the government perfectly. The situation demands an active movement of opposition to austerity by ordinary people in the autumn, and radical alternatives for job creation based on emergency public works, an expansion of state enterprise, and credit for small and medium enterprises,” said Mr Higgins.
Mr Derek Nolan, Labour Party TD for Galway West, drew attention to the slowdown in the rate at which new claimants were signing on.
He said he took heart from recent job announcements, like at C&F Green Energy in Athenry, Schering Plough in West Cork, and Ericsson and WPA Mobile, both in Athlone. “While these announcements have been very welcome,” said Mr Nolan, “the truth of the matter is that we still have a very long way to go before we can begin to think in terms of cracking this nut.
“I will be working with my colleagues in Government over the coming months and years, to utilise every tool of the State to tackle this crisis and begin the process of recovery,” he said.
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), however, has demanded that the Government acknowledge that their jobs initiative is “not gaining traction,” and that they should act decisively before many more citizens are placed on the dole. The Association has called for a more representative and acceptable National Representative Forum to instigate and drive job creation and the Economic Recovery Plan.
The ISME drew attention to the 225 redundancies per day in July, and said the standardised unemployment rate has trebled to 14.3 per cent, up from 4.8 per cent at the start of 2008.
Commenting on these figures, ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding, said: “The expected but still shocking live register and redundancy figures show quite clearly that the Government’s action is not having the desired effect on the jobs situation, as evidenced by today’s numbers. In addition, one in five SMEs have indicated further job losses unless serious action is taken.
“There is no point in offering grants and tax reductions for job creation without a parallel concerted effort to reduce the overall cost of doing business in Ireland,” he said. “Compared to our international business competitors, our basic government-influenced business costs are more expensive; in energy, local charges and transport, to name a few.”
Mr Fielding said that public sector costs must be reduced faster than envisaged, and “certainly faster than what is happening, or not happening, under ‘Croke Park’.”
The Association called on the Government to replace what Mr Fielding termed “the now defunct and discredited Partnership” with a National Representative Forum, consisting of economic advisors, both private and state, politicians from all sides, and business representative groups to advise Government on the Economic Recovery Plan.
A priority for ISME would be a plan to tackle the negative factors that are impacting on the business sector, particularly excessive costs, late payments, and lack of access to finance, which they claim are directly leading to significant job losses..
