A reduction of 3,104 during the month of November in the number of long-term unemployed persons is a figure to treasure. Behind the cold mathematics employed by the Central Statistics Office are thousands of families facing into a brighter and more comfortable Christmas. The economic boom does not necessarily bestow high living standards, but it provides employment for some people who had almost given up hope of ever working again. The fall of 32,786 in the live register over a twelve month period is the biggest reduction on record. And the number signing on the dole has fallen to a fifteen-year low. This is all good news for the Coalition Government. Especially as the provisions in support of low-paid employment in this week's Budget, along with falling interest rates, are expected to underpin further economic activity.
In the midst of these developments, the Tanaiste and Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment, Ms Harney, has drawn attention to the successes of her employment action plan and has, in turn, been accused by Mr Tommy Broughan of the Labour Party of misleading the public. The exchange was fairly predictable in content. Mr Broughan faulted the employment action plan for causing great distress to some young people. He argued they were signing off the dole "because of a fear of being pushed into a poor quality job or scheme". But being in a position to sign off the dole would suggest an alternative means of financial support. And if work - even poor quality work - is available, surely the State's maintenance obligation comes to an end?
The Tanaiste's statement laid much of its focus on "dole cheats" and people working in the black economy. The leader of the Progressive Democrats reported dramatic results from the first phase of her employment action plan. Some 20 per cent of those contacted had disappeared from the live register, she said, along with a further 22 per cent who had been found jobs or been referred for training. But the scheme is only scratching the surface and fails to benefit many people. At present, it involves calling the under-25s for interview when they have been unemployed for six months. And, since September, a total of 2,660 have been accommodated. At that rate of progress, it would take nearly four years to work through the 40,000 young people registered as unemployed last November. In spite of that, Ms Harney is already talking about extending the scheme to the 167,000 over-25s from early next year. All this progress is envisaged on the basis of providing funding for an extra 50 FAS interview staff in 1999.
Such pie-in-the-sky aspirations do nothing to reassure the unemployed and the marginalised that the State is their ally, rather than an oppressive force that regards them in a jaundiced light. It will require enormous investment in adult education, in training, and in procedures and structures to reskill and rehabilitate many of the long-term unemployed. Using figures from the national household survey to quantify the level of unemployment understates the problem. Under this measurement, persons who work for as little as one hour a week are regarded as employed. Irish unemployment reality lies somewhere between the 207,174 persons listed in the live register and the 126,000 that figure in the national household survey.