CSO DATA FOR FEBRUARY DEMONSTRATES CONTINUED RECOVERY AND INCREASED JOBS - KENNY

Posted on March 9, 2015 4:01 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Local Labour TD Sean Kenny has welcomed a further drop in Live Register figures, which show a steady decline in unemployment since early 2012.

"The latest CSO figures indicate unemployment continues to fall steadily with the rate dropping to a little over 10.8% in the past year. Across the area for which I was elected, Dublin North East, there were 9390 on the Live Register in December 2013 and 8348 people on the Live Register in December of this year. That is a drop of just over 11%, which is excellent news and shows consistent and steady improvement from last month's figures and demonstrates that economic improvement is bedding in."

"While the national economy is showing signs of recovery, and the local economy is also, I am determined to see that this trend translates into real jobs across the Northside of Dublin. This area was badly hit during the recession and the reality is that many young people have emigrated. However, it has to also be said that emigration levels have been falling over the past couple of years. In the year to April 2014, net emigration of people aged 15 - 64 (emigration minus immigration) was approximately 35,000 in 2013 and dropped hugely to 23,000 in 2014. Therefore the reduction in unemployment that is happening now is despite the fact that fewer people are emigrating."

"People need to feel they have a future, opportunities and career progression in Ireland and that is why I support the further roll out of the Youth Guarantee, in which Labour played the major role in bringing to fruition, on a national level as soon as possible. There are still unemployment 'blackspots' on the Northside which never saw the benefits of the economic boom, and where problems of long-term structural unemployment were never addressed by previous governments. The growth in employment is not the result of a growth in the number of people on job activation schemes. We saw 100,000 more people back at work in 18 months (between Q1 2012 and Q3 2014) - during the same time, the number of people on job activation schemes grew by just 2,000. This is clear proof that the reduction in unemployment levels is down to increased numbers of real jobs and not job schemes."

"The continuing fall in unemployment demonstrates that Labour's policies to create jobs are delivering. Ireland will soon reach a single digit unemployment figure which is in stark contrast to the Fianna Fail crisis peak unemployment figure of 15.1%."

"Having come through a very difficult recession, all of us, at Government and local level, must focus on getting our unemployed people back to work. I look forward to working on the progress that's being made and where possible look at new channels that could lead to jobseekers finding work."