Jobless problem - Shining light on the issues

With over 460,000 people unemployed in this country at present, more than half of those for over a year, the Irish Examiner begins a five part series today on the unemployment problem.

This was the major issue in the last general election. The Government was elected not just as a result of the well-publicised failures of the outgoing administration, but also on the promise of combating unemployment and putting the economy back on track. Even their most ardent supporters could not yet claim with any credibility to have fulfilled their election promises.

The county with the highest rate of unemployment rate is Limerick, which has 28.6% out of work, while Dublin has the lowest rate at 17.1%. Even the lowest rate is intolerably high.

The Government has been claiming it has been implementing measures to rectify the economy. Nobody could expect the problems to be rectified overnight, but it is important that remedial measures should be examined and evaluated. There has been a small drop in dole claimants over the past 12 months, but economists suggest that emigration is playing a big part in keeping down the unemployment numbers.

The media has a duty to keep a spotlight on the issues involved.