THE GOVERNMENT must develop a “coherent” strategy for retraining construction workers, many of whom should be equipped to work in a “green economy” and renewable energy projects, the Western Development Commission (WDC) has said.
Measures must also be taken to stem a “brain drain” in the west due to the high number of skilled workers emigrating, the WDC said in an analysis of employment due to be published this week.
The WDC is the statutory body promoting economic and social development in Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare.
It says a government job-creation strategy concentrated on “gateways and hubs” would do little for smaller centres and rural areas, and a “regionally unbalanced approach” to economic recovery would “not achieve the best results for the country”.
The “gateway/hub” approach could also lead to “unsustainable and undesirable commuting patterns” or “even to a rural depopulation”, the report warns. It identifies eight sectors as having future growth potential in the region.
The report, entitled Work in the West: the Western Region's Employment and Unemployment Challenge, analyses the region's current employment profile. It notes that the unemployment rate has doubled in a year in the west, rising from 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to 10.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2009.
It notes that one in four men in the west worked in construction during the 2007 building boom – a higher proportion than in the rest of the State.
Since then a third of the region’s construction workforce, at approximately 16,400 people, have lost their jobs, which had contributed to very substantial increases in male unemployment.
Some of these men are educated professionals involved in construction, while others are a mixture of unskilled younger men and part-time farmers who relied on off-farm employment in construction to survive in rural areas.
The report notes that education and skills levels improved overall in the region during the “boom years”, but more women than men have third-level educational qualifications – at 33.4 per cent of women compared to just 23.1 per cent of men in 2008.
It notes that it is “particularly striking” that the share of men in the west with a third-level qualification is below the percentage in the rest of the State, at 23.1 per cent compared to 27.3 per cent elsewhere.
The eight sectors earmarked for growth potential are medical device manufacture, which is already a recognised “cluster” in the west; software, financial and international services; the creative sector; the green economy; caring for the elderly due to the higher proportion of older people in the region; organic and artisan food production; tourism; and marine, including ocean energy, western-based tourism, marine food and transport and shipping activities.
It recommends a balanced regional approach to economic recovery, investment in critical infrastructure in the west, and initiatives for business support to retain skilled people and avoid a “brain drain”.
It also calls for flexible and coordinated training provision; a focus on workers with lower-educational needs for particular strategies; reskilling of construction workers for the green economy and renewable energy; new approaches to distance education; and availability of broadband provision in rural areas.