Workforce shrinks for first time in two decades
Taoiseach Brian Cowen insisted people should stay “positive” despite a CSO survey showing an alarming combination of a sharp fall in employment coupled with a severe lengthening of the dole queues — a double economic blow unseen for a quarter century.
FÁS warned next year would be much worse with the number of people employed in Ireland plunging by 100,000 — four times more than this year’s drop.
FÁS also said that the rate of unemployment could hit 9% in 2009 as employment rates contracted by 5%.
The 12 months to August saw the number of people in jobs contract by 25,000 to 2,120,800 as unemployment soared by 60%, according to the Quarterly National Household Survey.
It is the first annual fall in employment recorded since 1991 and indicates how deeply the recession is biting.
Mr Cowen insisted he wanted to “accentuate the positives” in the economy while trying to minimise unemployment, but would be not drawn on any plans for a possible stimulus package. Labour leader, Eamon Gilmore, attacked the taoiseach’s “complacency”.
“The Government has to recognise that the unemployment situation is now a national crisis. Emergency action is needed, in particular, to assist small and medium-sized companies, if we are not to see further massive job losses between now and Christmas,” he said.
The economic slump is hitting men hardest with the number of males with jobs plunging by 32,000 over the year; women saw employment rates rise by 7,000 in the same period.
Construction saw a 40,000 collapse in workers, but the downturn has also spread to other sectors of the economy.
Employment in manufacturing was down 9,400, while the contraction in the leisure industry has forced another 5,400 people out of jobs in hotels and restaurants over the 12-month period.
The overall employment of foreign workers remained unchanged despite the flow of non-Irish nationals into the country slowing to one-sixth of last year’s level.
The figures also show that the overall number of people who can be described as fully unemployed rose by 50% to 160,000 in the 12 months to August this year.
Fine Gael employment spokesman, Leo Varadkar, accused the Government of a lack of urgency in dealing with the sudden, deep deterioration in the jobs market.
“The dramatic rise in unemployment to 7% in the third quarter of this year was much higher than any analyst anticipated,” he said.
