2014-04-22 - Socio Economic Review 2014 - Full text and cover - FINAL

S O C I O - E C O N O M I C R E V I E W 2 0 1 4
5.
W O R K , U N E M P L OY M E N T A N D
J O B C R E AT I O N
CORE POLICY OBJECTIVE: WORK, UNEMPLOYMENT AND JOB CREATION
To ensure that all people have access to meaningful work
The scale and severity of the 2008-2010 economic collapse saw Ireland revert to the
phenomenon of widespread unemployment. Since then, despite the attention given
to the banking and fiscal collapse, the transition from near full-employment to high
unemployment has been the most telling characteristic of this recession. The
implications for individuals, families, social cohesion and the exchequer’s finances
have been serious and the effects are likely to be felt for many years to come. CSO
data and economic forecasts for the remainder of 2014 indicate that unemployment
will reach an annual rate of between 11.5 and 12 per cent of the labour force in 2014,
having been 4.7 per cent before the recession in 2007. Significant improvements
have been achieved over the past two years, but there can be little doubt but that we
are in a very challenging period in which a high level of long-term unemployment
has once again become a characteristic of Irish society.
This chapter reviews the evolution of this situation and considers the implications
and challenges which arise for Government and society. 42 It also looks at the impact
on various sectors of the working-age population and, given this, it outlines a series
of proposals for responding to this unemployment crisis. To date, Social Justice Ireland
considers that the response has been slow and limited. As the chapter shows, the
scale and nature of our unemployment crisis deserves greater attention, in particular
given the scale of long-term unemployment. The chapter concludes with some
thoughts on the narrowness of how we consider and measure the concept of ‘work’.
42
The analysis complements information on the measurement of the labour market and
long-term trends in employment and unemployment detailed in annex 5.
110 Socio-Economic Review 2014