A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

people of working age 105Approaches to achieving a better work-life balance, in the context of the recession,include possibilities of a greater sharing of paid and unpaid work (requiringco-operation between employers, employees, the social welfare system, serviceproviders and families). While greater balance between working and otheractivities, including family life, tends to support positive well-being the mostdetrimental impact on well-being is lack of job security, in particular loss of a joband unemployment. ‘That is why unemployment is such a disaster: it reducesincome but it also reduces happiness directly by destroying the self respect andsocial relationships created by work’ (Layard, 2005: 67).UnemploymentThe third component on the work and participation domain is unemployment.In the context of the recession unemployment is likely to have one of the mostnegative impacts on individual and societal well-being. Because of the speed of therecession, it is hard to document the current situation as it is continually changingand there is a data lag in collecting, analysing and presenting information onunemployment. Unemployment is especially damaging for people of working ageas this is the stage of people’s lives where they engage in employment, at least forsome part of this stage of the life cycle.Unemployment By Age and GenderThree indicators are presented under the unemployment component:unemployment by age and gender; unemployment by nationality; and Jobseekerclaimants. In July 2009, the number of people on the seasonally adjusted LiveRegister was 423,400 persons, an increase of 197,500 from July 2008 (CSO, 2009d).The Live Register standardised ‘unemployment rate’ was 12.2 per cent. It should beborne in mind that the Live Register does not directly measure unemployment as itincludes part-time workers (those who work up to three days per week), seasonaland casual workers.Unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS)and the most recent information available at time of going to press was forQuarter 1, 2009. Some 222,800 people were unemployed in Q1 2009, 158,400 ofwhom were men and 64,500 were women. This was an increase of 113,400 or 104per cent over the year. The unemployment rate increased from 4.9 per cent to 10.2per cent over the year – the male unemployment rate was 12.8 per cent and thefemale rate 6.8 per cent. Increases in unemployment have taken place throughoutthe country with increases of 32,900 (+104 per cent) and 80,500 (+104 per cent) inthe numbers unemployed in the last year in the Border, Midland and Western andin the Southern and Eastern regions respectively. Throughout the country 158,500job losses have been recorded between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009. Some 72,200 of thesehave been in construction, 30,300 in the wholesale and retail trade, and repair ofmotor vehicles and motorcycles, and 19,600 in industry.