OECD chief doubles IBEC’s five-year forecast on employment recovery

A SENIOR director at the OECD has said that it could take up to 10 years for Ireland’s employment levels to return to normal — contradicting IBEC’s recent forecast of five years.

Speaking at yesterday’sInterTrade Ireland Economic Forum at Dublin Castle, John Martin, director for employment, labour and social affairs at the OECD, said that even with a sustained recovery it is still likely to take seven to 10 years to get the country’s unemployment rate down from 14.5% to around 6%-7%.

“Past history of employment trends in Ireland show that whenever there has been a large jump in unemployment levels, it has taken a long time for those numbers to be reduced; and that was even the case with the economic boom years of the Celtic Tiger,” Mr Martin said.