Sir, - Paul Rowlandson (April 6th) writes that the Fair Employment Commission's final report shows that the number of Protestants in the Northern Ireland workforce increased from 1990 to 1998 by 5,031, while the number of Catholics increased by 25,698 - so far quite accurate. These are the sort of changes one would expect, given the increase in the Catholic population as well as the creation of a fairer society.
Mr Rowlandson, however, then goes on to write: "In other words more than five times as many Catholics were hired than Protestants during the eight-year period." This shows that he fails to understand the dynamics of any labour market. The figures would only mean this if Northern Ireland had uniquely achieved a zero rate of labour turnover with not a single employee changing employment, dying or retiring during the whole of the eight-year period.
In fact, during this period the public sector and larger private sector employers (those who are required to monitor appointments) recruited 293,041 employees identified as Protestant or Catholic, of whom 56.3 per cent were Protestant and 43.7 per cent were Catholic. That is about the proportions one would expect to see if the market is operating fairly.
The success rate of Catholic and Protestant applicants in obtaining jobs is also comparable, which is another sign of the market operating fairly towards both communities.
The Fair Employment Acts do not require or even permit the type of quota filling to which Mr Rowlandson refers. There is no evidence which would support his thesis that religious discrimination is "state mandated". However, his gross distortion of the statistics can have very grave effects in a still divided society. - Yours, etc., Sir Robert Cooper, Chairman, Fair Employment Commission,
Great Victoria Street, Belfast 2.