Unemployment rate at 10.2% – CSO
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Ireland’s official unemployment rate is 10.2%, the highest since 1997; this is the highest since 1997. There were 158,500 fewer jobs in the year ending March, a 7.5% fall in employment, with construction industry employment falling by 28.6%. There were 1,965,600 people employed in Ireland in the first three months of 2009, with 222,900 unemployed.
The CSO will next month release the emigration figures for the year ending in April, but the figures show that the non-Irish national labour force shrank by 8% in the year to March, while there was only a 1% decline in the number of Irish nationals in the labour force. Unemployment among non-Irish nationals was at 14.7% in quarter one, while it was 9.4% for Irish nationals. Unemployment was highest among those aged 15 to 34.
Earlier this month, the CSO’s Live Register figures, which are calculated in a different way, showed that the unemployment rate for May was 11.8%.
A look at unemployment rates in destination countries
Monday, June 15th, 2009With the increasing number of news reports about unemployed people seeking to emigrate, it’s useful to look at unemployment rates in a number of destination countries. These are, of course, only guidelines – no doubt there are national differences in the methods of compiling these statistics that make it difficult to make accurate comparisons.
Ireland’s unemployment rate is 11.8%. Here are the rates in some of the countries most commonly considered by those seeking to emigrate:
- UK: 7.1% (March 2009 – Office for National Statistics)
- US: 9.4% (May 2009 – Bureau of Labour Statistics)
- Canada: 8.4% (May 2009 – Statistics Canada)
- Australia 5.7% (May 2009 – Australian Bureau of Statistics)
- New Zealand – 5% (April 2009 – Statistics New Zealand)
ESRI predicts 17% unemployment next year
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009The Economic and Social Reseaerch Institute is predicting unemployment reaching 15% by the end of this year before peaking at 17% next year. The organisation is estimating emigration figures will be 60,000 over the next two years. The Irish Independent notes that the organisations cautions, “It would be wrong to call that a forecast. It is more of an assumption, because migration is so hard to predict”.
The ESRI also predicts that the economy will contract by 14% in the three years from 2008 to 2010, noting, “By historic and international standards, this is a truly dramatic development. Prior to this the largest decline for an idustrialised country since the 1930s had been in Finland, where real GDP declined between 1990 and 1993″.
The CSO announced today that the unemployment rate now stands at 11.4%, with 388,600 people on the Live Register. This is more than double the rate of a year ago.
Related web pages:
- Irish Independent: We’ve never had it so bad
- ESRI press release: Quarterly Economic Commentary, Spring 2009
- CSO: Live Register April 2009
Union highlights teachers’ emigration
Monday, March 30th, 2009Teachers are the latest profession to be in the emigrant spotlight, with the news that the Association of Teachers in Ireland has said that new teachers will be more likely to find work abroad.
The Sunday Business Post says that 2,500 to 3,000 temporary or part-time teachers would have ordinarily expected to find full-time work in Ireland; secondary school teachers generally spend between five and seven years before getting a full-time post. With cutbacks and an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio, however, there will be fewer jobs available to move into.
ASTI general secretary John White said,
So, your bright young person coming out from college will almost certainly be only able to get hours by filling in for people on career breaks, maternity or sick leave, or taking up the other half of a job-sharing position.That represents a very significant reduction in their standard of living and we are very concerned abou that. This is a very significant issue.
We are very concerned for them. It seems particularly sad as our teachers are in demand. From September, they will be going to work in England and other countries where there is a shortage of teachers.
Read the article:
Sunday Business Post: ASTI: Teachers may have to emigrate
New Irish in London face hard times, says paper
Monday, March 23rd, 2009The Irish Times has carried a bleak article on recent Irish arrivals in London. Reporter Carl O’Brien points out the dramatic change that has occurred with the downturn:
For many younger people, the maudlin emigration songs with their tales of yearning and aching loneliness felt like stories from a distant era. Suddenly, they don’t feel so remote anymore. As the shutters are pulled down on job opportunities at home, the harsh prospect of having to find work abroad is all too real for thousands of young people.
This statement is from 29-year-old who has left his four-year-old behind in Portlaoise and now working 12-hour shifts six or seven days a week:
“You miss home, you miss your family, you miss your friends. I was training a soccer team at home. Every time I ring my son, it’s, ‘are you collecting me today, Daddy’, so that’s tough. Any chance I get to go home, I take it to try and see him and the family. With the job here, though, it’s hard to know when you’ll be free.�
The article highlights a few reasons to be optimistic about this generation of emigrants. Today’s young people tend to be better educated and more confident than in the past. Danny Maher, chief executive of Cricklewood Homeless Concern told the paper,
“I think this is a totally different group of people. This generation is better able to adapt and they’re more globally-minded. If someone is in a vulnerable position, through drink or drugs or whatever, this is the last place they should be . . . These days, the Irish are more likely to be in the wealthier suburbs – they don’t need safety in numbers anymore. That can only be a positive thing.�
Local GAA clubs report that they are assisting people with jobs and contacts, while the London Irish Centre in Camden reports getting four or five people a week in need of emergency assistance. Peter Hammond says,
“In the old days you could just turn up at a construction site looking for ‘the start’. Those days are gone. You need accreditation, training, national insurance numbers.
“We always had a trickle of vulnerable people with drink or drug problems here during the boom. But now there are jobless people ending up homeless or in need of emergency support. We have a fund for repatriations. I’d say we’re putting someone on a Ryanair flight back to Ireland on a weekly basis.�
Read the article on the Irish Times website: Hard times for Irish in London.
GAA hopes to keep players with jobs drive
Monday, March 23rd, 2009The GAA is working to prevent the emigration of its players through a jobs drive, reports the Irish Independent.
The Gaelic Players’ Association has started a jobs board website to link up players with job vacancies, while Limerick GAA has started a directory of players outlining their job skills in the hope that employers may see their potential.
GPA chief Dessie Farrell said yesterday that “The next couple of months will be very telling and once the Championships begin you will have a better gauge of what players will be available and whether, because of the recession, names are missing from squads.”
Irish Independent: GAA gets to work on saving its players from dole
Galway Independent: GAA boss Doherty fears wave of emigration
Gaelic Players Association Jobs Board
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