Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O'Keeffe today revealed he has asked Forfás to examine allegations that people are turning down jobs paying €25,000 a year because they are losing out on social welfare entitlements.
Mr O'Keeffe said he met representatives of small businesses in Galway on Wednesday, who informed him that people were turning down jobs because they would lose entitlements.
"I met 25 representatives of small business there, and there are real concerns that jobs being offered at €25,000 a year are not being taken up, and Eamon O'Cuiv and myself are sitting down and looking at how we can achieve this," he said.
"Forfás is now doing an analysis of the whole area for me to see if there a foundation for this particular allegation that's being made, " said Mr O'Keeffe, adding he was looking at changes to make it attractive for people working part-time to go back to full time employment.
"I'm also looking at the 64,000 people on a three day week and how we can entice them to go back to work a five day week, how we can make it profitable for them go back on a five day week and how we can interact with the employers to ensure that they offer that opportunity."
Forfás is the State's national policy advisory body for enterprise and science.
Mr O'Keeffe was speaking at Little Island in Cork where he officially announced 31 new jobs at aluminium products manufacturer Architectural and Metal Systems . The company has invested €8 million in a new extension that will enable them to expand their range of processes.
Asked about fears expressed by the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed that jobless numbers could reach 500,000, Mr O'Keeffe expressed confidence that unemployment has bottomed out and will start to decrease.
"Obviously we're very concerned at the level of unemployment, and everyone of us is disappointed at what has happened, but I think we've indicated quite clearly that with growth and with the onset of growth, we will get an improvement," he said.
"Growth will be about 1 per cent of the economy this year - you're not going to get an immediate lift with the number of jobs to be created. Into next year, we're hoping that there will be an impact on jobs because we're going to have about 3 to 3.5 per cent growth in the economy."
Mr O'Keeffe said the Government will be taking a significant number of measures to ensure that adequate training is provided, while he also expected the number signing on to fall in September as people return to education.
Approximately 6,500 people joined the Live Register in June when they finished education courses, and although the exact figures have yet to be tabulated, Mr O'Keeffe said he expected the September figures to show a decrease of 7,000 or more as people return to education.
"I hope the numbers have bottomed out. Brian Lenihan is giving us a total outlook next week at Cabinet on the economic situation, and after that, I think we will have a better feel for the prediction going into the future," he said.
