Almost 6600 on Live Register in East Cork – Stanton

The number of people in East Cork on the live register has now risen to 6594.  This is an increase of 10% since this time last year says Cork East Fine Gael TD, David Stanton, when the figure stood at 6007.

“The number of people out of work in Midleton, Cobh and Youghal is still increasing, and increasing on a monthly basis.  It is alarming that despite large job losses in 2009, the number of people  unemployed in East Cork has increased by a further 587 people since July 2009. The Government needs to give these people access to training and education opportunities so they can upskill and get back into employment in the future.

“There are now 466,834 people of working age on the live register. Our national unemployment rate now stands at 13.7% up 1.5% from 12.2% in July 2009. While this is much lower than countries such as Spain which has a 20% unemployment rate, it is well above the EU average across 27 Member States of 9.6%.  More needs to be done here by the Government to create jobs.

“What is even more frightening is the huge amount of young people who are out of work here and across Europe.  EU youth unemployment rates now stand at 20.3%.  In Ireland, despite tens of thousands of young people emigrating to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, there are still 95,000 young people under 25 years on the live register.   In East Cork alone, 1057 young men and women are out of work . Without the necessary education, training, skills and experience there is a very real danger that many of these people could become long term unemployed.

“Youth unemployment is extremely high and poses a very real challenge which must be addressed urgently if mass emigration and a talent “brain drain” are to be avoided.  This Government is not doing enough to address our unemployment levels. Fine Gael has produced a series of comprehensive policy documents specifically to address are growing unemployment.  Anyone wanting to see what policies and supports we will put in place when we get into government can view them at our website at www.finegael.org