Unemployment whittled down to lowest level for seven years

Unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in seven years, with a 1,200 fall in the seasonally adjusted total to 249,900 people last month. Before adjusting for seasonal trends, the total fall in the Live Register in September was 5,367 people - more than would normally be expected at this time of year - bringing the number signing on to 243,961, the lowest figure for over seven years.

The Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) is now down to 10.1 per cent, compared with 10.3 per cent last April. The SUR is the new measure of unemployment based on Labour Force Survey figures. The figures reflect the overall trend this year and particularly the rapid fall in the number of long-term unemployed. The number of long term unemployed fell by 6,188 last month, but was offset by an increase of 1,025 in short-term unemployed and 204 extra registrants under other headings.

Broken down by gender, there was a drop of 3,610 in the number of male long-term unemployed and a drop of 2,578 in the number of female unemployed. The number of extra men signing on for short-term unemployment benefits increased by 234, but the figure for women was more than three times higher, at 791.

The figures suggest that new initiatives by FAS to target core groups among the unemployed, such as middle-aged men out of work for more than three years are proving effective. However, many of these people are in Community Employment (CE) schemes and the figures also suggest that some of jobs going to the long-term unemployed may be having a displacement effect among the short-term unemployed.

The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, welcomed the continuing fall in unemployment but said it was still unacceptably high. "Complacency must be avoided at all costs", she added. "The Government remains determined to pursue active policies to move people from welfare to work."

She rejected criticism from the leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, that the Government was reneging on its commitments to convert 25,000 of the 40,000 places on Community Employment schemes to jobs that would pay the "going rate". The "going rate" is is the amount that is paid in the commercial or public service sectors for similar work.

The Fine Gael spokeswoman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Nora Owen, said yesterday that she was concerned at the number of people over 25 who were remaining on the dole. While she welcomed the overall reduction in the number of unemployed there was a danger of groups remaining excluded.

"We must find out why these people are being left behind by the Celtic Tiger and rectify it immediately," she said. A truly just society should not exclude anybody. We now have the means and the opportunity to tailor our jobs strategy so it is of benefit to everyone, not just the lucky ones."

The leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said he welcomed the further fall in the number on the Live Register, but accused the Government of reneging on commitments to expand the Community Employment schemes.

Ms Harney appeared to be merely "topping up" existing schemes on a small scale. Her only specific commitment so far was to create an additional 6,000 places on CE schemes which would pay the "going rate" for the job.

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said that, while the continuing fall in unemployment figures was very welcome, the rate of decline was slowing down. Taking account of seasonally adjusted figures, people appeared to be signing off in their hundreds rather than their thousands, the INOU chairman, Mr Paul Billings said.