Underlying issues in Live Register stats must be addressed by Govt – Calleary

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Jobs Dara Calleary has said the continued reduction in the number of people signing on the Live Register is very important but has warned the Government not to ignore key reforms needed on job activation and training.

Deputy Calleary said “the monthly Live Register decrease of 4,400 in June is very welcome and puts the unemployment rate at 11.6% but there are underlying concerns within the figures published by the Central Statistics Office today. There has been a significant fall-off in the number of people in job activation programmes, down by almost 11,000 in the past month alone.  Some of this could be explained by training courses naturally ending at this time of year but the number of people in job activation programmes last month is also down on the same month last year.

“The Government needs to understand that unemployment doesn’t go away for the summer months – we need all year round activation and training programme for people who are out of work.  It is not good enough that the government would just allow activation programmes to end and have nothing in place to follow on from them.

“New jobs are being created in the economy and important investment announcements are being made by companies but I still don’t believe the Government has the cross-departmental approach needed to deliver the schemes capable to up-skilling people on the Live Register to fill these positions as they come on stream.  New companies setting up in Ireland and expanding businesses are seeking a high skilled workforce and the Government needs to do more to deliver that.

“It is important to point out that emigration continues to be a factor in the declining headline figures and long-term unemployment remains a major issue.  Where people are out of work for a long and continuous period of time it makes it very difficult for them to get back into employment.  I am urging the Government to refocus its job creation and job activation measures.  We should be matching the training for people who are unemployed with the sector where there is likely to be strong employment growth.”