Opposition parties and business groups have condemned the Government for failing to stem the rising tide of unemployment following the latest jump in the Live Register numbers.
The number of people seeking employment assistance on the Live Register rose by 8,500 to 452,500 last month, signalling an unemployment rate of 13.7 per cent, the highest rate recorded in 16 years.
Labour’s enterprise spokesman Willie Penrose the rising numbers of people seeking employment assistance was a “clear indication” that solving the jobs crisis had dropped to the bottom of the Government’s agenda.
“They have a strategy to rescue the banks; they have a strategy to introduce savage cutbacks in crucial public services, they even have a strategy to lease vacant houses from bankrupt developers, but they have no strategy to tackle unemployment,” Mr Penrose said.
But Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív insisted job creation was the Government’s top priority.
Mr Ó Cuív said the Live Register had risen every July without exception over the last 20 years due to seasonal factors. He predicted the increase in the numbers on the register during the summer would be reversed in the autumn.
“While the register figures are at a very high level, the figures rose more slowly in July than in June, despite the fact that the July total covered a five week period, while the June total covered four weeks," he said.
The month-on-month increase in the Live Register for July 2010 is also the lowest July increase since 2007. This shows that the Government’s hard choices have brought stability to the economy over 2009 and 2010,” Mr Ó Cuív said.
Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan claimed the labour market was in free-fall and the prognosis for economic recovery was dire. “This Government is redundant. Unemployment has reached its highest peak and there is no concrete job creation strategy on the horizon,” Mr Morgan said.
However, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe, said the slowing rate of redundancies shows that economic recovery is under way.
The department said the number of redundancies lodged to it last month was lower than in any month last year bar December and, with the exception of May, is the lowest so far received this year.
"The rise in the Live Register figures, which is common in the summer and due to seasonal factors, will be reversed in the autumn," Mr O'Keeffe said. "The figures count over 64,000 part-time workers and I am working with the Minister for Social Protection on plans to put these people back on a five-day week.
"Behind every job loss statistic is a human story and we must continue to tackle unemployment with a range of policy measures that effect economic recovery," he said.