Number of under-25s on the dole doubles

EMIGRATION of young people will lead to a serious brain drain, the opposition has warned after figures show the number of people under-25 joining the dole queue has almost doubled in the past year.

As thousands of young graduates and skilled tradespeople head to Australia, Canada and other parts of the world seeking work, Fine Gael’s Deirdre Clune called for a “detailed plan” to tackle unemployment among the young.

“The unemployment figures for December 2008 show that 62,311 people under the age of 25 are now on the Live Register, almost double the figure of 33,289 in December 2007. This dramatic rise in youth unemployment is a serious warning that only a completely incompetent government would continue to ignore,” she said yesterday.