Vol. 436 No. 5
38 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the extent to which he expects to create sufficient jobs to cater for the needs of the 382,000 available for work but currently either unemployed on pre-retirement social employment schemes or FÁS courses and schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Over the period of the National Development Plan 1994-99, which is the largest investment programme in the history of the State, it is estimated that about 200,000 jobs will be created in industry, services, natural resource sectors and construction. These jobs are expected to translate into net non-agricultural job growth of between 70,000 and 100,000 depending on the level of wage competitiveness improvement achieved and the strength of the growth in the world economy.
The achievement of high and sustained rates of economic growth is an essential prerequisite for the more effective tackling of our employment problems. Therefore the first priority is to achieve levels of economic growth which, when associated with appropriate policies to improve its employment content, will facilitate a reduction in the level of unemployment.
The Government is pursuing several courses of action in its efforts to encourage a more labour-intensive growth. Government policy is directed at: improving competitiveness and input costs; economic and fiscal strategies that support enterprise, job creation and maintenance; and training and education of workers, including the young and long term unemployed.
