Working to get jobless off the dole queue

Long-term unemployment hurts whole families and can become an intergenerational problem.

Aside from the depression of not working or having money to pay for basic services, people face a cruel catch-22 scenario where the longer they are out of work, the harder it can be to get a job.

People seeking work will be encouraged by figures released by Eurostat last week which show our unemployment rate fell from 13.6% to 11.8% over a year, one of the largest decreases in the EU.