THERE WAS a fresh spike in unemployment in the first month of 2010 as post-Christmas lay-offs led to a 5,800 increase in the seasonally adjusted Live Register of unemployment benefit claimants.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show there were 434,700 people on the Live Register at the end of January, after it has been adjusted for standard seasonal fluctuations.
Ireland’s rate of unemployment increased to 12.7 per cent in January, according to CSO estimates, up from 12.5 per cent in December. During January an additional 2,400 men and 3,400 women joined the Live Register. The higher number of women signing on suggests that many of the jobs lost were in service sectors such as retail, which tend to employ a high proportion of women.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was forced to defend the Government’s handling of the economy after he outlined the figures in the Dáil yesterday.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the latest statistics, following on from the exchequer returns earlier in the week, were “a litany of despair from a Government that has failed to have any plan or any strategy in place to deal with this situation”.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore pointed out that some 319 people a day had lost their jobs since the start of the year. “None of those people will tell you that there is recovery.”
He added that one out of every three young men in the State aged between 21 and 24 was on the dole.
On an unadjusted basis, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 13,341 to 436,936 during the month.
Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers, was downbeat about the latest CSO figures. “There is no doubt . . . that the lower rates of monthly increase in the numbers signing on in recent months can be put down to increased emigration, more people than usual returning to education and Government schemes aimed at cutting the numbers on the Live Register,” he said.
“However, there does not appear to be any indication that employers are actually hiring more staff. Indeed, it is hard to see job prospects getting better unless the banking system is stabilised and money is flowing freely back into the economy again.”
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association called for the introduction of a jobs think tank to address problems in the “crumbling” labour market, while the Small Firms Association described the figures as “frightening but not surprising”.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) attributed the rise in claimants to what it said were the Government’s “ill-advised deflationary policies” on the economy.
“Even troubled Iceland has kept unemployment to 7 per cent and Greece to 1.4 per cent,” said Ictu general secretary David Begg. “We have no plan to save or create jobs and no economic stimulus package to boost economic activity.”
The average net weekly increase in the number of people who joined the Live Register last month was 1,160, compared to an average increase of 5,800 a week in the same month a year earlier.
The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers as well as seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseeker’s benefit or allowance. The estimated number of casual and part-time workers in January was 73,630.
