Business running scared of rising labour costs

Yet again employers have raised the spectre of labour shortages and its potential effect on the economy. The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland is calling for the issuing of visas to non-EU nationals and an enhanced drive abroad to tempt emigrants home. It says 40 per cent of businesses have vacancies, with the figure for the hotel and catering industry rising to 60 per cent. It also says companies are taking up to two months to fill vacancies.

Basically, employers are trying to fill positions at the lowest cost possible. Now we are all aware of the dangers of wage inflation but it is somewhat disingenuous for business which lectures the Government on the cost of State supports for others and on the need for a level playing field on competition to deny that same competitive position on pay and to seek public funds to effectively keep their overheads down.

This is not to dismiss the perils of wage inflation. The Government should look at measures which can be taken to encourage those not in work - including non-EU nationals in the Republic pending decisions on their cases - to join the workforce and ease the bottleneck on labour supply. The CCI itself raises the issue of affordable child-care, the absence of which is keeping many women from returning to work and the Government is tinkering with the unemployment payment system to encourage more people to take the plunge and return to work.

However, it is hard to feel sympathy for some employers who have consistently mistreated staff both in terms of pay and conditions and who now find themselves unable to attract people to work in their companies.