Jobs strategy has some flaws, but there are some hopeful signs

THE Government is right to declare job creation its main ambition. Unemployment is the major economic and social curse blighting this country.

It is the biggest single cause of emigration and has undermined the living standards of hundreds of thousands of families. That, in turn, has caused much emotional hardship.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said this week that 2014 would be the “year for jobs”. It is a handy sound-bite, but what does it really mean? “Everything that can be done to accelerate the labour market will be done,” he said at the launch of a “framework” document. Finance Minister Michael Noonan boasted of “50 pages of detail,” and said “It’s not one of these PR marketing economic policies that we got used to in the past.”