Unemployment crisis - The greatest challenge of our time

THE highest unemployment figures in two decades were reported yesterday. The Central Statistics Office reported that the number of people who depend on unemployment benefits rose by 5,800 in June – more or less 300 jobs lost every working day for a month.

This rate of attrition is unsustainable. It would challenge the most stable and affluent societies, much less one that is increasingly divided and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

The latest increase brings the seasonally adjusted number of people signing on the Live Register to 444,900. The standardised unemployment rate in June was 13.4%. It was 12.9% in the first quarter of 2010.