Job Creation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 June 2012

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Ceisteanna (1)

Willie O'Dea

Ceist:

1Deputy Willie O’Dea asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if he is satisfied with the measures to increase the number of persons in employment; if he will provide the figures for the percentage of persons in unemployment for more than one year and for more than two years; the percentage of persons under 25 years who are unemployed; the same figures for this time in 2011; his liaisons with the Department of Social Protection on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27560/12]

Freagraí ó Béal (5 píosaí cainte)

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Deputy Richard Bruton)

Ireland has suffered an enormous dislocation of employment as a result of the deep financial crisis and serious policy failures of the previous Government. In the three years prior to the Government taking office, over 300,000 jobs were lost. This scale of job loss cannot be reversed overnight.

This employment crisis is the central challenge facing Government. In response, the Government has developed the Action Plan for Jobs as a cross-Government response with timelines and milestones. This is the first in an annual process. We have challenges across a broad range of areas, for example in competitiveness, access to finance and reskilling. All of these are being addressed. It will take time to reverse the trends but I believe the new measures being adopted are putting us on the right track. We are making progress on the delivery of these actions and I am encouraged by the number of new job announcements which have been made since the beginning of this year, including 44 IDA announcements to the end of May with the potential to create in excess of 5,000 jobs.

The jobs crisis is reflected in the unemployment data which show that 60.6% of those who are unemployed have been out of work for 12 months or longer. This compares to 55% at the end of 2010. The percentage of people under 25 years of age who are unemployed is 29%, compared to 28% a year ago.

Tackling unemployment and supporting job creation are the key challenges facing Government. I work with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, and other ministerial colleagues on an ongoing basis at Government and Cabinet committee level as we address these challenges. Deputy Burton's Pathways to Work initiative complements the work of the Action Plan for Jobs.

The objective of the action plan is to support the creation of 100,000 net new jobs in the economy by 2016, while the aim of Pathways to Work is to help ensure that as many of those jobs as possible are filled by people on the live register.

Deputy Willie O’Dea

Lack of employment is one of the greatest problems facing the Irish economy and Irish society. It is something of a joke that we are discussing this problem at 7.30 p.m. on a Thursday, when the media have departed. This is the second time in a row this has happened. I will not engage in this sort of farce again. This is the last time I will put questions to the Minister on such an important topic at 7.30 p.m. on a Thursday.

The Minister referred to the record of the previous Government and said 300,000 jobs were lost during its last three years. He conveniently overlooks the fact that when the previous Government left office there were 750,000 more people at work than when it took office. Despite the promises made during last year's general election campaign, we have seen a steady decrease in employment, a steady increase in unemployment and a significant increase in emigration.

Does the Minister agree that in the year before the Government took office unemployment stood at 13.5% and that it is now up to 14.8%? While that gives the appearance of stabilising, will he agree that the pattern of unemployment is significantly different? As the Minister said, 60% of those who are unemployed have been out of work for more than a year, and 40% of those who are out of work have been out of work for more than two years. Unemployment among people under 25 has reached one in three. This was considered a major crisis in France during the recent presidential election campaign. The figure in Britain is one in five and it is considered such a major crisis in that country that a Minister has been appointed specifically for that area. It is one in three in this country. Does the Minister agree we have a massive employment crisis on our hands in this country and one that has not improved one iota in the past 15 months when he has been in office?

Deputy Richard Bruton

I fully agree that the biggest crisis we face as a nation is the employment crisis. I do not dispute that.

To be honest, I had no role in the scheduling of the timing of Question Time.

Deputy Willie O’Dea

I know. I was not suggesting the Minister had.

Deputy Richard Bruton

I take them at whatever is the appointed time. We are undertaking a difficult transformation in the economy. That is the truth of the matter. We built a property bubble that was unsustainable. Part of it meant the construction sector grew well beyond what was sustainable in the long term. The reason we have seen the huge rise in unemployment is the wipe-out of the construction sector. From memory, approximately 160,000 jobs were lost in that sector alone. It is many of those male workers who are finding it very difficult to reintegrate into the workforce. That dislocation is what is driving the pattern to which the Deputy referred, the high proportion of people who are out of work in the long term.

The response must be twofold, one of which I am primarily responsible for, namely, getting enterprises to create more employment. We are beginning to see positive signs in terms of investment from foreign companies. We are also seeing good signs in terms of start-ups, but we have real problems, as the Deputy himself acknowledged, in banking and elsewhere in getting enterprise back on its feet. We have significantly improved our competitiveness and we are seeing exports recover. We are seeing the start of the transformation but I admit that it is taking time to reverse the trends. It will be a significant challenge.

The other dimension is the one on which the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, is working, namely, helping people who have been displaced to transfer to new skills with Springboard, and to get the support of activation work experience, JobBridge and other schemes to help them re-enter the market. I do not understate the challenge by any means but the Government's approach in having an annual jobs plan, committing to change year-in and year-out and holding ourselves to targets is the best way to address those problems.