All communities hit equally by recession

BELFAST BRIEFING:IT'S HARD to miss the frontline recession victims in Northern Ireland, particularly when it comes to men of a certain age and profession.

You see them wandering aimlessly around supermarkets in the middle of the day, pushing family-sized trolleys with a look on their faces that says: “I wish I still had a job.”

You also see growing numbers of men collecting their children from school, usually with an air of embarrassment, painfully aware that in the past they would have been at work at that time.

But there is one place that most starkly illustrates how many men of a certain age and profession – chiefly construction workers – have lost their jobs recently. And that is the local job centre.

The Department for Employment and Learning has a network of 35 benefits offices and job centres across the North and they are all doing a roaring trade. At a time when most businesses are downsizing, the department has been forced to take on 100 extra staff to deal with the increase in people forced into unemployment.

While there have been job losses in many sectors in the past 12 months, the construction sector has been hit the hardest. It has shed thousands of jobs in the last quarter alone and it has been mainly men, particularly young and highly skilled, who have been the first casualties of the downturn.

It is difficult to say who is suffering most, but new research suggests that dramatic changes in the religious composition of the workforce mean that, for once, everyone is hurt equally.

The latest labour market statistics show that there has been a huge rise in the number of Catholics in employment in the North. According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, between 1992 and 2007, there was an increase of about 115,000 Catholics in employment.

This compares to a rise of about 18,000 Protestants in employment in the same period.

The statistics provide an insight into how the composition of the workforce has changed in the North almost in parallel to the seismic political changes which have unfolded in the last two decades.

In 1992, 77 per cent of Protestants were economically active in the North compared to 66 per cent of Catholics.

By 2007, the comparable figures had risen to 75 per cent of Protestants and 71 per cent of Catholics.

In 1990, the religious composition of the working-age population was 54 per cent Protestant compared to 41 per cent Roman Catholic and 6 per cent other/non-determined. In 2007, the corresponding figures were 47 per cent, 43 per cent and 10 per cent.

The report also identified characteristics distinct to each community. It was noted that the Protestant community has, over time, had a higher rate of economic activity than the Catholic community.“Approximately one in five Protestant males of working age (19 per cent) were economically inactive in 2007 compared to one in four Catholic males.

“Thirty-four per cent of Catholic females of working age were economically inactive compared to 30 per cent of Protestant females.”

Research has shown that, traditionally, there was a consistently higher unemployment rate in the Catholic community, but the difference in the rates has now converged.

The study also investigated the religious composition of specific industries.

Researchers found that the industry with the highest representation of Catholics was construction. The sector with the highest composition of Protestants was agriculture, hunting and forestry.

The report concluded that the religious composition of the economically active working population was 54 per cent Protestant and 46 per cent Catholic in 2007 – the closest yet.The study may show just how important a role both communities now have to play in reviving the economic fortunes of the North.

But this is unlikely to be of any comfort to the growing numbers of people from both the Protestant and Catholic communities who are facing the prospect of unemployment.