The number of people signing on rose sharply in October, new figures released yesterday have shown. The data also showed the first year-on-year rise since September 1996.
The seasonally-adjusted figures show a rise of 5,200 people signing on the live register last month, according to the Central Statistics Office. The seasonally-adjusted total rose to 146,600 in October, from 141,400 in September.
Unadjusted, the number of people signing on the live register increased by 1,285 last month to 141,835. In the year to October 2001, the live register rose by 2,646 to 141,835, the first year-on-year rise since September 1996 when the register rose by 2,506 persons to 278,741.
The standardised unemployment rate has risen to 3.9 per cent, compared to 3.7 per cent in April 2001, based on the Quarterly National Household Survey. The latest figures do not include the spate of job losses announced on Thursday and yesterday which will put further pressure on the unemployment rate.
All of the 700 workers at Tara Mines in Co Meath were issued with notice of lay-off from November 17th, while a further 320 jobs were lost at the AFL car components firm in Dundalk, Co Louth. Around 100 temporary workers at the Braun electrical appliances plant in Carlow were also put on notice. There was also a series of smaller job losses yesterday, including 24 in Waterford, 20 in Monaghan town and a further 20 in Leitrim.
The latest figures could mask an even grimmer picture, according to Mr Tony Monks, general secretary of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed. "Of the many large-scale redundancies that were announced a few months ago, a lot of these haven't kicked through yet because people were being put on notice and the redundancies were going to roll out between now and Christmas. So we wouldn't expect next month's figures to be any more comforting," he said.
But Tβnaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said the Irish economy was still sound, despite the recent job losses.
However, speaking on RTE Radio's Morning Ireland, Ms Harney warned that Ireland was not immune from the global economic downturn, especially in the US, and said there was a likelihood of more such losses. Nevertheless, she said the State was not in a recession and the economy's fundamentals remained very good.
Mr Dermot Ahern, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, said records to date show that many who had lost their jobs found fresh work within weeks. But, Opposition parties have strongly criticised the Government's response to job losses. The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, said yesterday there was a real fear that the Government had lost control of the management of the economy. Labour Party spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Pat Rabitte, said the Minister had "singularly failed" to spell out her Department's response to the economic downturn and mounting job losses.
Mr Noonan said Mr Ahern should use his visit to the US next week to call together the members of the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board so that an accurate picture can be drawn of the likely intentions of the US multinationals.
