3,700 new jobs - ESB plan is a light in a dark tunnel

HOW very welcome yesterday’s announcement by the ESB that it will create nearly 4,000 jobs over the next five years. This is indeed the stuff of economic recovery.

What an uplifting contrast to the almost daily spiral of job losses and closures that last month saw the number of people out of work reach 372,800, an increase of 20,000 in just a month. In the year to March 2009, the figures nearly doubled at 173,279 (+87.5%).

These are dismal figures and they have an impact on the psyche of so very many people, those who have lost jobs and those who fear they may lose theirs.