Fresh pay freeze call as job losses hit 20,000

THE Irish labour market has witnessed more than 20,000 redundancies since the start of the year, more than half in construction and manufacturing, according to Government figures.

Last month, companies let go 3,914 workers, compared with 2,287 in July 2007.

This statistic represents a 36% increase in redundancies on last year and was being used by the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association yesterday to renew a call for a wage freeze.

As many as 132 jobs per working day are being lost and the figures confirm that over half — 56%, of redundancies — were in construction and manufacturing.

However, 33% of job losses were in the services sector and women account for 32% of redundancies, confirming that job losses have spread beyond construction.

Given most economic commentators predict little or no employment growth in 2008, forecasts are looking bleak, said John Stewart, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.

“The figures for August could equally be as bad depending on the level of return of building workers to their jobs after the traditional holiday. The challenge facing the Government is to ensure that people who are made redundant are supported in finding alternative employment and, if required, facilitated to develop their skills to make this transition,” he said.

If drastic action was not taken, a record number of job losses would be reported by the end of the year, ISME stated.

According to ISME chief executive Mark Fielding, “the latest figures, coming so soon after the appalling live register statistics, confirm our worst fears, with the jobs market nose diving and 132 people losing their jobs daily. All the evidence suggests that things are going to get worse, with many businesses reducing employee hours and numbers at unprecedented levels”.

“The redundancy numbers are evidence that businesses are suffering through exorbitant costs including labour, energy, local charges, waste and environmental costs, which have completely undermined competitiveness. Together with an uncertain economic environment firms have no option but to reduce their most costly outlay, staff,” he said

Mr Fielding accused unions of “upping the ante and threatening industrial unrest on the back of a breakdown in partnership talks”.

The only sensible option, he said, was the introduction of a pay freeze to provide much-needed “breathing space” for the economy.

The director of the Small Firms Association, Patricia Callan, said the number of redundancies in the economy is spiralling out of control. “These figures should serve as a wake-up call that good quality jobs are going to the wall in all sectors and across all regions, due to the cost pressures on small businesses,” she said.

“As an economy and as a society we now have a clear choice: Do we want to continue fooling ourselves that we can pay ourselves whatever we want, or do we realise that we are a small open economy that has prospered due to the ability of our small businesses to be agile, innovative and competitive.”