635 losing job every day as workers suffer from FF’s economic incompetence
Fine Gael Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has described today as a Black Friday for workers as the CSO revealed the biggest ever increase in the live register last month, with 635 people losing their job every day.
“This is a Black Friday for workers as the CSO reveals the biggest ever increase in the live register in June. A total of 19,055 more people signed on between May and June, with 635 people losing their job every day. Since the last election, when the Fianna Fáil Government scraped back into power on the back of false economic promises, at least 54,000 people have lost their jobs and the live register has risen by a third. And the overall unemployment rate is now creeping back up to 6%.
“Fianna Fáil is not telling the truth when they claim this is all due to the global credit crunch. No other EU country bar Spain is experiencing the same surge in unemployment, and many are seeing unemployment levels fall.
“The truth is that ordinary workers are bearing the brunt of Fianna Fáil’s economic incompetence. People are losing their jobs because of Brian Cowen’s botched handling of the economy. While all EU countries are struggling with the international slowdown, Ireland is also struggling from the collapse of a domestically-generated and debt-fuelled housing bubble and a sustained loss of competitiveness. These are the direct result of Brian Cowen’s big mistakes in public spending, competitiveness and housing.
“As the Government gears up for its elastoplast economic statement next week, it must acknowledge the big policy mistakes from the past and put the State finances back on a sustainable footing:
- start by cutting Ministerial pay rises and cutting the number of junior ministers;
- stimulate the housing market and construction sector by cutting VAT;
- identify and upskill 500,000 vulnerable workers between now and 2020;
- use funding from the NDP and European Social Fund to fund a massive ‘eco-training’ programme for 10,000 skilled workers laid off from the construction sector for a huge expansion in the Greener and Warmer Homes schemes;
- instigate a total overhaul of FÁS;
- expand training for those activities that still offer good prospects, such as professional services, health-related caring professions, IT, home energy efficiency technologies, and HGV drivers.”