Ireland to achieve jobs growth despite losses, says EU

IRELAND is in line to achieve ambitious employment growth despite current job losses and the downturn in the economy, according to a major EU report just released.

But governments and employers throughout the EU have to start treating and paying women better if they want to achieve their target of 70% employment by 2010.

Over the past 11 years, there has been an increase of more than 1.3 million women in the EU workforce, bringing the participation rate from 54% to just under 55%.

The number of women working in the Irish workforce jumped from 33% to 50% since 1990.

Overall, Ireland has been a star performer in the EU with a massive 605,000 more people at work now than in 1990, increasing the employment rate from just over a half to two-thirds last year.

This is higher than the EU average, which is just short of 64%.

However, the latest unemployment figures, on the back of the 400 job losses at Tellabs in Shannon, have taken the sheen off the latest EU report.

The number of people signing on the live register rose by 1,465 in August to stand at a total of 173,563.

The largest percentage monthly increases were in the southwest (up 1.8%), the midwest (up 1.2%) and the midlands (up 1.1%).

Labour spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Tommy Broughan, called the figures “truly alarming”.

He said the live register would be close to 200,000 by the end of the year if the latest rate of increase was maintained.

“The continued upward drift in the live register figures is a matter of serious concern that demands a much more proactive approach from the Government.

“Despite all the boasting from the Government about its achievements, Fianna Fáil and the PDs have added almost 25,000 to the live register in the past year,” he said.

“What is of even more concern is that these figures do not include recently announced major job losses in firms like Tellabs, Braun and Dell,” he said.

Deputy Broughan said that complacency in the Government is costing jobs every day.

“Unemployment of almost 175,000 is not and should never be acceptable. We need a far more focused drive by the Government to identify plants at risk and to protect existing jobs. There must also a renewed effort to attract new employment into areas that have been hit by closures and expanded retraining opportunities for those who have lost their jobs.” This is particularly so for the Dublin region which has seen an increase in the live register numbers of 24% in the past year" he said.