Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 May 2015
99. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which women and men have had equal opportunity to take up jobs in the workplace over the past four years; the extent to which this is in line with international trends throughout Europe, or globally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18898/15]
View answerThe Action Plan for Jobs since 2012 has set a comprehensive set of measures agreed by Government to promote job opportunities and employment growth for all, males and females. The Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2015 is a whole of government approach to economic recovery, export growth and job creation. The Action Plan for Jobs set a target to increase employment by 100,000 by 2016 and we are well on track to achieve that figure this year, ahead of the target. Much work remains to be done however to replace all the jobs lost in the downturn, and we are determined as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs and the Spring Economic Statement to have 2.1 million at work by 2018 and to get the unemployment rate below 8 per cent. It is important to record that almost 90,000 more people are at work since the launch of the first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. There was an annual increase in employment of 1.5% or 29,100 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing total employment to 1,938,900. The increase in total employment of 29,100 in the year to Q4 2014 was represented by an increase in full-time employment of 39,600 (+2.7%) and a decrease in part-time employment of 10,500 (-2.3%). Unemployment decreased by 39,600 (-15.6%) in the year to Q4 2014 bringing the total number of persons unemployed to 213,600. This is the tenth quarter in succession where unemployment has declined on an annual basis. The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 7.2% to 5.7% over the year to Q4 2014.
Over the last four years, the number of males at work has grown by 59,000, while the number of females at work has increased by 22,700. Over the same period, unemployment amongst men has fallen by 75,600, and by 21,700 amongst women. Male unemployment decreased by 23,400 to 135,500 in 2014, while female unemployment decreased by 16,300 to 78,100 over the same period.
My Department, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices work closely with the Department of Social Protection and its offices at local level to promote available employment opportunities to those seeking employment opportunities, male and female, and to ensure employers have the best available data on skills available to fill job openings.
