Call for Govt to tackle unemployment

The Government was today accused of leaving the economy on auto-pilot after new figures revealed unemployment is at its highest rate for almost a decade.

The number of people signing on the Live Register last month increased by 8,500 pushing the rate of those seeking benefits up to 5.2%.

The last time unemployment reached such levels was in September 1999.

Willie Penrose, Labour Party enterprise spokesman, said it was the fifth month in row the register had increased.

“What is of most concern is that there appears to be no strategy at government level for dealing with the growth in unemployment,” he said.

“We need a far more pro-active approach by the government to both job creation and job retention.

“A booming international economy over recent years has allowed this government leave the Irish economy on virtual auto-pilot. That approach will not work in the new situation.”

The Central Statistics Office said the seasonally adjusted Live Register increased from 179,400 in January to 187,900 in February. This follows an increase of 7,800 in January.

In the year to the end of February the register increased by 30,086.

Earlier this week the Department of Enterprise confirmed fears of rising job losses with statistics which showed 5,644 people were made redundant in the first two months of the year – 1,300 more than the same period last year.

The standardised unemployment rate based on the Live Register is higher than the 4.6% rate recorded in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS).

But the Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment as it includes part-time workers who work up to three days a week, seasonal and casual workers entitled to benefits.

The QNHS from September-November last year found 102,500 people were out of work.

Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar claimed Fianna Fáil, which has been in power since 1997, had killed off the Celtic Tiger.

“February saw the biggest ever monthly increase in the live register in absolute terms, proving that Fianna Fáil has killed the Celtic Tiger,” Mr Varadkar said.

“The spectre of mass unemployment has returned to haunt the country.

“This is further evidence of the Fianna Fáil Government’s reckless ’boom and bust’ management of the economy.”