Cowen slammed over jobless figures

The opposition launched a fierce attack on Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s Cabinet reshuffle this afternoon after official figures showed more than 13% of the workforce is unemployed.

Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin rounded on Mr Cowen after he chose not to create a single ministry charged with driving recovery in the devastated jobs market.

More than a quarter of a million people are out of work with twice as many men languishing on growing dole queues as women.

Richard Bruton, Fine Gael finance spokesman, said the report showed 69,100 fewer people were in the labour force at the end of the year after disenchanted jobseekers left in their droves.

“The scourge of emigration is rife again as our best and brightest are fleeing the country to find work,” he said.

“Other countries are reaping the reward of our skilled and talented workforce. Ireland’s future recovery depends on a new generation, but this future is being hollowed out.”

The Central Statistics Office said more than 267,000 people were unemployed at the end of last year – 189,100 men and 78,400 women.

Some 77,000 men, mostly from construction, joined the hunt for scarce jobs during 2009.

The latest quarterly national household survey showed 1,887,700 people in work in the last three months of 2009, an annual decrease of 166,900.

Joan Burton, Labour’s spokeswoman on finance, said the big let down in the re-shuffle was no single minister has responsibility for jobs.

“We need to focus like a laser on the jobs crisis which shows no sign of abating,” she said.

“One startling aspect of the final 2009 figures, is the massive cohort of young people who are now out of work in Ireland.”

Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan also claimed the Cabinet reshuffle left no-one in control of jobs while control over training at the state agency FÁS is spread between several ministries.

“The old saying ’too many cooks spoil the broth’ is perfect here,” the Louth TD said.

“Employment will fall through the cracks and ministerial blame will be shirked as no one person is accountable for getting Ireland back to work."

Ibec senior economist Fergal O’Brien warned the survey showed laid-off construction and manufacturing workers were finding it hardest to get back to work.

“The continued rise in the long-term unemployment rate and the fall in those classified as short-term unemployed suggests an emerging structural unemployment problem,” he said.

Economic experts warned the labour market was in its worst state since 1994.

Ulster Bank’s Lynsey Clemenger said 250,000 jobs have been lost over the course of the recession and said the labour force will continue to shrink in the first half of this year through emigration, people going back to college or retraining.

Brian Devine, economist NCB Stockbrokers, said there will be little or no net job creation until 2011.