Both sides try to match people with the jobs

It was the Taoiseach Mr Ahern who pointed out, somewhat querulously, at the review of the Strategic Management Initiative in Dublin Castle last month that he was tired of hearing "prophets of doom" go on about the imminent collapse of the Irish labour market. As he pointed out, it would take continuing annual growth rates of 4.5 per cent over the next decade simply to absorb the natural increase in the labour force.

The general secretary of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, Mr Mike Allen, says predictions about the demise of the labour pool are "alarmist". "There are still nearly 100,000 people looking for work and when you add the people who want to work but who are not actively looking for it the figure is nearer 170,000," he says.

The trouble is that it is not easy to match the people to the jobs. In a recent report, the Dublin Employment Pact said there was "a growing mismatch between labour supply and labour demand. Nearly 40 per cent of firms have unfilled vacancies equivalent to over 2 per cent of their total employment".

The same report estimates that, in the services sector alone, there are potentially 260,000 additional jobs coming on stream in the State by 2010. It predicts tourism will generate another 80,000 jobs, internationally traded services a further 60,000 and manufacturing 45,000.

The pact includes business organisations, trade unions, youth and community groups, State agencies and public representatives.

As they search for new recruits, employers are becoming as aware of the barriers to work facing the long-term unemployed as people such as Mr Allen.

At the recent launch of its regional plan for Dublin, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation put the need for retraining the long-term unemployed centre stage. IBEC's regional executive for the capital has been particularly active on this front and has signed up to the Dublin Employment Pact.

The State training agency FAS, which is also involved in the Dublin Employment Pact, has traditionally borne the brunt of the effort to match people to jobs.

Its latest "Jobs Ireland Campaign" is a firefighting exercise aimed at attracting 10,000 suitably qualified workers to the Republic quickly.

The aim of attracting an extra 10,000 immigrants is ambitious, given that there was net immigration of 23,000 people last year. Of these only an estimated 15,000 were adults of working age. FAS itself is under no illusions about the task it faces.

Its senior public relations officer, Mr Greg Craig, says employment has grown by 32 per cent, or 375,000, since 1993. "Virtually all of this employment growth has been concentrated in manufacturing or high-tech industry and services."

Employment in construction was also growing rapidly, at 10 per cent a year.

Employment has grown from 45,000 to 50,000 in the banking sector in the past three years. All the major Irish financial institutions are seeking staff.

Construction, already employing a record 140,000 people, is expected to create 10,000 more jobs this year. In the teleservices sector, at least 6,000 recruits are needed by companies such as Dell, Oracle, Gateway, IBM and 3Com. The software industry is expected to generate 20,000 to 30,000 jobs in the next three years.

Of course, reward rates vary. Jobs in tourism tend to range from £9,000 to £20,000. In teleservices, rates are a modest £11,000 to £14,000. By contrast the software and electronics sectors offer rates of £14,000 to £45,000. Construction industry rates are not far behind for some highly skilled operatives and professionals.

FAS is also looking nearer home to fill some of these jobs. For instance it is providing upskilling for many of the 700 Fruit of the Loom workers made redundant in Donegal. Most of these workers left school with nothing higher than an Inter Cert and are in danger of joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed if not given new skills. There are no limits to the potential of people, as the Tramlines pilot scheme pioneered by the Ballymun Jobs Centre has proved. It took long-term unemployed people in one of Dublin's most deprived communities and turned them into highly-qualified IT specialists. Not all unemployed people can be fast-tracked into anything, however. The most obvious group is lone parents, most of them young women.

The decision by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, to divert resources from community employment schemes into the social economy and specific skills training will leave many of them stranded.

AS training centre were women and none of these were lone parents. Ms Harney is right to try and restructure employment schemes to meet the needs of the economy but the situation for lone parents is just one illustration of how it is an area strewn with social - and political - landmines.