The Government needs to drop the jargon and deliver those jobs

WE have endured two weeks of incessant government propaganda on job creation.

Last week it was the Action Plan for Jobs. This week it’s Pathways to Work. But what is the single most important factor in sustainable employment growth? Profits in business. Without a positive return on capital employed, there won’t be consistent investment or reinvestment. Companies that lose money eventually downsize and shed jobs. Whether it’s an indigenous firm or a multinational giant, the same central credo applies. They are only in business to create shareholder value. Their jobs created are a feature and mere by-product of their battles to win market share and achieve business plan targets. The Government, with its 15 departments and 36 state agencies, has only a cameo role. Politicians won’t acknowledge their eunuch status in this regard. They promise voters jobs in order to garner votes. Fine Gael promised a year ago to create 100,000 new jobs through the Economic Recovery Authority (new ERA). The election sweetener aspired to privatise semi-state companies and reinvest several billions in new public sector enterprises in the areas of Irish Water, renewable energy providers and broadband. Having sold the electorate a pup, ignoring the troika realities, they now are presenting an alternative package to provide an extra 100,000 jobs, bringing the total workforce up to 1.9 million by 2016.

The gobbledygook vocabulary of government jargon is unreal. Try this: “consider and agree prioritisation, based on recommendations ; establish structures; design new hub and& spoke model of engagement; agree and implement new protocols; enact an applied research mandate; undertake a feasibility study to examine structures and policies; complete the review; undertake a review; accelerate the programme of re-evaluation; initiate the preparation; conduct market research and liaise with business representative groups ... ” The mindless drivel is endless.