54% of jobless have been without work over a year
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report urged governments to tackle rising long-term unemployment and youth joblessness, which it said was “stubbornly high”.
It came as CSO figures confirmed there are 304,500 people unemployed in Ireland — the highest on record.
It marks an increase of 10,900 in the past year. The official unemployment rate is now 14.3%, with 54% of those out of work for over a year.
The OECD report shows that in 2010 Ireland had the fourth highest unemployment rate, behind Spain, Estonia and Slovakia, and just ahead of Greece.
In the table showing the harmonised unemployment rate, it can be seen that unemployment reached its highest level since 1990.
It also indicates the pressure being placed on young jobseekers. In a table showing employment/population ratios, activity and unemployment rates by selected age groups, almost 29% of those in the 15-24 age category were unemployed, with labour force participation rates in that age category slumping to just over 43%, its lowest figure since the mid-1990s. By contrast, the labour force participation rate in the 25-54 age group was 81%.
The incidence of temporary employment among the 15-24 age category rose to more than 30%, while, overall, people in employment are working longer hours at a time when wages in real terms have stagnated.
The rise in the rate of long-term unemployment among women is also documented.
In a table showing the incidence of long-term unemployment as a percentage of total joblessness, more than 69% had been without work for six months or more, and 49% for a year or more.
The information in the report on Ireland dates from last year but the OECD said that in the middle of this year, the number of unemployed people in the OECD area stood at 44 million — a fall in comparison to the last such report but still 13 million more than before the global economic crisis.
For those countries for which 2011 figures exist, long-term unemployment soared in Spain, the US, Britain and the OECD in general.
OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said helping young people out of unemployment needed to be a priority of every government.
In the first quarter of this year across the OECD area, the unemployment rate in the 15-24 age category was 17.4%.
Mr Gurria said: “Tackling the large human cost of unemployment, especially for those youth who fail to get a permanent foothold in the labour market, must be a priority.
“A better match must be achieved between the skills youth acquire and those needed in the labour market.”
Brid O’Brien of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed said many young people, particularly those recently graduated from third level, felt frustration over a lack of training places and internships at a time when many jobs did not seem to be advertised.
