Jobless rate spirals as 167,000 join dole in 2009

ALMOST 167,000 people lost their jobs during 2009 – a reduction of 8.1% in the number of people at work in the space of 12 months.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office also show that unemployment rate is continuing to rise, although at a slightly slower rate than before.

But the stark scale and speed of the downturn in the jobs market was revealed in the latest quarterly national household survey published by the CSO yesterday. It shows that 267,400 persons were out of work at the end of 2009 – with 97,700 additions to the jobless total coming during the year – an annual increase of almost 58%.

More than half the annual increase was attributed to the number of long-term unemployed – people who are out of work for over 12 months – which jumped by 53% to 89,100.

The official unemployment rate at the end of 2009 stood at 13.1%, compared with 12.5% just three months earlier and 8.1% at the end of 2008.

A CSO spokesperson said the unemployment rate was at a level not witnessed since 1995.

The large reduction in the number of people in employment was strongly attributable to a decline of 77,700 males working in the construction industry, a sector where employment levels have halved since 2007. Just 61.1% of the adult population of working age were in employment at the end of 2009.

The number of self-employed in the country is estimated at 323,200, a fall of 38,400 over the course of the year.

Employment fell on an annual basis in nine of 14 main economic sectors, with the large decreases in construction (down 79,600 or 37%) and general industry (down 29,800 or 11%).

Small increases were recorded in the transport, health, tourism, IT and public administration sectors.

The total number of people in the labour force was 2,155,200 at the end of last year – a decrease of 69,100 or 3.1% during 2009.

The CSO expressed caution over a statistic which indicated that there was a dramatic fall-off in the number of people working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries last year.

A spokesperson said an analysis of a recorded decline of 26,700 people in that sector – a 23% reduction – in the space of 12 months, had not identified any clear reason to explain such a decrease, although it could be due to different sampling methods.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign nationals working in Ireland has also fallen. The CSO figures show that 303,100 non-Irish nationals were in the labour force at the end of 2009, an annual decline of 33,600 or 10%. Non-Irish nationals account for 13.5% of all people in employment compared with almost 15% a year ago.

The survey finds 35,500 Irish nationals quit the labour force last year, with the majority likely to have emigrated or returned to education.

Bloxham chief economist Alan McQuaid said it was “a sobering reminder to the Government of the current weak state of the labour market”.

Mr McQuaid predicted that the unemployment rate would peak at 13.5%. However, he warned the jobless rate would not return to the 4% level again “unless major policy initiatives are taken to “upskill” a significant part of the workforce and/or the minimum wage is reduced.