Jobless rise to continue in 2011

THE country’s unemployment rate is likely to rise slightly this year, before showing a minor decrease in 2012, the Central Bank forecast yesterday.

The UNITE trade union said that the latest forecast shows that the Government’s “policy of austerity is doomed to failure”.

“This is the Central Bank of Ireland forecasting tens of thousands more job losses, the economy remaining in recession throughout the year, and a continued haemorrhage of investment.

“The policy pursued by Government is failing and will continue to fail but we have moved now from a position of shouting against the Government to putting forward a workable alternative,” said UNITE’s regional secretary, Jimmy Kelly.

“The People’s Budget, which we published last month, pointed out that austerity would strangle any possible economic growth and sow the seed of its own failure. This latest Central Bank forecast reiterates that. There is an alternative, in the shape of investment for jobs and re-flating demand through reversing social welfare cuts and the cut in the minimum wage so that people will have money to spend and save jobs and businesses,” he added.

Yesterday’s Central Bank commentary said that “the turnaround in employment will lag any recovery in output”.

“A fall in employment, in the region of 1%, is projected in 2011, with some additional significant job losses expected — most notably in the financial and construction sectors,” the Central Bank said.

It added that public sector redundancies will also exert further downward pressure on employment levels this year and next.

With regard to the banks, the institution said that the upcoming new round of ‘PCAR’ stress assessments “should enhance the position of the banking sector and put it in a position to assist recovery”.