Coalition is failing to stem our job crisis

THE mounting litany of job losses makes for bleak reading, especially as it is all too apparent that there is worse to come.

For the next few years the jobs market will get worse, with manufacturing, construction and the traditional sectors going through a tough time, according to the latest forecast by ESRI, the economic think-tank which predicts rising unemployment, with workers having to learn new skills and follow jobs around the country.

This grim reality was borne in on the people of Waterford city and Dungarvan yesterday as the flagship Waterford Crystal group announced 234 redundancies. Workers will derive little solace from Tánaiste Mary Harney's by now familiar mantra that employment will actually rise by Christmas.