Vol. 410 No. 7
7 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for Labour the number of redundancies notified to his Department in the first six months of this year; the way this compares with the same period in 1990; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The total number of redundancies notified to my Department in the first six months of 1991 was 8,337 compared with 6,840 for the corresponding period in 1990. It is satisfactory to note that the increasing trend evident earlier this year has levelled off somewhat in the more recent months — the figure for June being substantially lower at 1,273 compared with 1,715 in March. It should also be remembered that, in any comparison with last year's figures, the total in 1990 of 13,292 notified redundancies was the lowest annual figure since 1979.
The figures the Minister has read out merely confirm the frightening underlying trend that has alarmed many people concerning worsening employment. Is it the Minister's intention or the intention of the Government during the summer months to see whether there is any role for Government in intervening in this matter before we head into what will be a very bleak autumn and winter if the underlying trend now evident continues?
The Taoiseach has answered the second part of Deputy Rabbitte's question at great length today. On the redundancy aspect, the figure for the first six months of the year is higher than for the first six months of last year which, as I have said, was the lowest for 11 or 12 years. The figure is slightly above that for the first six months of 1989, 4,500 below the 1988 figure and 3,500 below the 1987 figure. I am not saying that I am happy that there were 8,337 people redundant in the first six months of this year — I am sorry there is any redundancy — but I assure the Deputy that the Department of Labour will do everything they can to try to prevent redundancies by assisting companies in need, using enterprise schemes or employment subsidy schemes and considering new schemes.
Would the Minister agree that, based on the current trend, there is a danger that there will be more redundancies this year than new jobs created, and if that is not the case, that, at the very minimum, the number of new jobs created may be equal to the number of redundancies and therefore there will be no net increase in employment during the course of 1991? This will keep our unemployment figure at the current level of 260,000 and increasing as we head into 1992.
As I said, I would be unhappy if the level of redundancies continued at the same level as for the first six months of this year. In the early months of the year the figure was 1,500 to 1,700 but it is now down to 1,200. I hope we can sustain that figure or reduce it if at all possible. I do not think the redundancy figure will equal the number of jobs created, but there is a negative factor. Last year and the year before the redundancy figure was about 13,000, whereas in 1984 the figure was 31,000 and in 1983, 29,000 and any jobs created were being lost through redundancy. The lower we can keep our redundancy figures the better for net job creation. That is what we want to achieve.
Is the Minister in a position to indicate to the House what he believes will be the net number of new jobs created during 1991 — I emphasise net rather than gross. The PESP refers to 20,000 or 25,000 gross jobs, depending on how you read it, but the Minister for Finance has indicated that not more than 8,000 new jobs net will be created this year. Can the Minister confirm that figure?
That is a separate question.
It is not my function to speculate. I hope we will continue to have a decline in the number of redundancies month by month and that we get as near as we can to last year's figure which was the lowest in ten or 12 years. That is what our aim has to be.
