The pound rose to its strongest level in a month against the dollar as the fastest increase in Britons’ wages since 2011 had traders rushing to reassess how soon the Bank of England may raise interest rates.

JobBridge and other schemes designed to help unemployed young people are in danger of being a very expensive waste of money, a report by the European Court of Auditors warned.

Ireland’s unemployment rate, including for young people, has dropped below the eurozone average over the past year, according to Eurostat figures.

The European Commission’s €315bn investment plan to spur growth could create 2.1m net jobs, lowering the bloc’s jobless rate by 1% by 2018, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said yesterday.

Irish workers are receiving lower wages now than they were at the start of the crisis, despite an increase in their productivity.

‘Turn Off the Red Light’ campaign aims to criminalise the purchase of consensual sex but is flawed in its assumptions, writes Mick Wallace.

The Youth Guarantee initiative, backed with €10bn of EU funding, will not create the jobs needed without a certain minimum economic growth, Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor has warned.

Ireland has been named as a "destination, source, and transit country" for people being trafficked for sexual and labour exploitation in a new US State Department report.

Laws that target sex buyers and pimps can curb human trafficking and prostitution, writes Denise Charlton.

A new fire and increased gas levels inside a coal mine in western Turkey are hampering search efforts for those missing underground, officials said.

Ireland has one of the highest minimum wage packets on the planet, according to a global survey.

British clothes retailer Primark will pay a further $10m (€7m) in compensation to victims of the collapse of a Bangladeshi factory last year that killed more than 1,100 people.

Primark is to begin paying nine million US dollars in long-term compensation to victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse that killed more than 1,100 people in Bangladesh last April.

The Government has been allocated over €63m by the EU to help with its youth employment initiative and is expected to double that amount with money it receives from the Social Fund.

The rich are getting richer.

Towards better rights for domestic workers

The numbers of young people out of work is escalating dramatically and the country’s highly educated generation is being seen as a problem.

The treatment of women and girls in Magdalene Laundries across Ireland “constituted slavery” which should be subject to a criminal probe.

Turnover of cross-border organised crime is about €710bn a year — more than six times the total of official development aid — and stopping this “threat to peace” is one of the greatest global challenges, a UN agency has said.

A UN report has today warned that the 17 member eurozone is now facing its worst crisis since the creation of the euro.

This week the European Commission published a harrowing and challenging report on the slavery of our times — human trafficking.

Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has welcomed steps by the international community to reach out to her country long isolated because of its military dictatorship.

When Aung San Suu Kyi last saw Europe, it was still divided into the democratic West and communist East. Her homeland of Burma was still under oppressive military rule.

A major trade union says it is a “national embarrassment” that shortcomings in the collective bargaining rights afforded to Irish workers were criticised by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The International Labour Organisation has predicted global unemployment will grow by 6m to 202m this year — and warned austerity measures being pursued by countries such as Ireland will lead to further job losses.

GREEK prime minster George Papandreou’s decision to hold a referendum on the bailout deal agreed as part of last week's EU summit outcome was courageous.

YOUR recent two-part Special Investigation by Conor Ryan (August 31 and Sept 1) exposed the stark reality of sex trafficking in Ireland and the abuse and distress, which its victims unfortunately must endure.

THE International Transport Federation has given the owners of a Russian ship tied up in New Ross until today to pay its crew more than €56,000 in owed wages otherwise it will seek the arrest of the ship.

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions has questioned the entitlement of the Government to reduce the minimum wage by €1 to €7.65.

The Government has announced a €3m donation towards combating child labour, human trafficking and forced labour in the developing world.

TODAY is World Day against Child Labour.

The number of work-related deaths per year is estimated to be around 20 times higher than the official figure, Siptu claimed today.

THE country’s largest trade union has claimed companies are being tipped off about Health and Safety Authority inspections allowing them to correct unsafe or illegal practices before detection.

A new partnership has been agreed to encourage women's entrepreneurship in developing countries.

The actual number of work-related deaths in Ireland is more than 23 times the official figure, a trade union said today.

THE International Transport Federation (ITF) is to demand access to a Cyprus- registered ship due to land at the Aughinish Alumina plant in Foynes.

THE International Transport Federation is to demand access to a Cyprus-registered ship due to land at the Aughinish Alumina plant in Foynes.

I HAVE been appointed by the European Parliament to carry out a comprehensive report into how the EU can help combat child labour around the world.

Former Irish president Mary Robinson will tomorrow join some of the most powerful women in the world at a London conference.

A top industrial troubleshooter today called for talks between Aer Lingus and its pilots over the threatened two-day strike next week.

THE International Transport Federation will next week name and shame shipping companies that are underpaying or exploiting their sea-going employees.

IT is estimated that during 2007 the value of Irish exports will be about €91 billion and imports will be around €64bn.

Dangerous conditions in Irish workplaces are leading to far too many deaths, campaigners said today.

GLOBAL unemployment hit a record high of 192 million last year, despite a buoyant world economy, with young people making up nearly 50% of the jobless.