Emigration helps unemployment figures in Ireland

Emigration helps unemployment figures in Ireland
Published:  16 Jan at 2 PM
A fall in unemployment figures in Ireland is thought to be caused by a wave of young people choosing to work abroad or stay in full-time education. According to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), youth unemployment has dropped by eight per cent as the number of those on the dole dipped by 2,295 to 434,784 in the past year.

Despite the promising-looking results, the government has been accused of failing to impose policies to properly tackle joblessness and instead relying on emigration to solve the problem. According to The Irish Independent, the issue is outlined by the fact that unemployment fell fastest among men in the west where emigration is thought to be most common.

According to figures revealed earlier by the Irish Independent, around 70,000 (mainly young) people left Ireland for Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand last year.

Speaking to the paper, Alan McQuaid, of Bloxham stockbrokers said it is clear that emigration is still playing a large part in the Live Register figures. He added that those young people who do not decide to stay in higher education are being tempted overseas by better job opportunities in New Zealand and Australia, for example.

Overall, the figures show a slight drop of 0.1 per cent in the country’s unemployment rate during the past year. While the amount of short-term job seekers dropped from 282,000 to 254,000, long-term unemployment shot up by a massive 16 per cent.