90% Yearly Increase in Balbriggan Live Register – 88% for Under 25s – Budget Must be about Jobs and Getting Ireland Working
Issued : Tuesday 2 February, 2010
There are 4835 on the Live Register at the end of November in Balbriggan. 2291 additional people signed on during the past 12 months in the area according to my analysis of the CSO figures for the month of November.
This represents an annual increase of 90.1% during this period which compares with a 54.8% increase nationally, and a 60.1% increase in Dublin generally. This clearly illustrates that Balbriggan continues to be very badly hit by the recession with 4835 people are now signing on.
Unfortunately in comparison with last month’s decrease of 69 persons signing on, the Live Register figures with respect to Balbriggan have increased for the month of November with the number of people having increased by 164. The monthly increase of 3.5% in the Live Register for Balbriggan compares with a 0.6% decrease for Dublin and 0.3% increase for all of the country. With monthly decreases of 1.4% in September and 1.5% in October the upward trend again in November is a disappointment.
There are now 865 people under 25 years of age on the live register in Balbriggan, 17.9% of the total people on the Live Register in the area. Compared with 460 people aged under 25 years old who were on the Live Register this time last year, this represents an 88% year on year increase, which is nearly double the national yearly increase of 43.9% and the yearly increase in Dublin of 48.6%.
Labour believes that getting Ireland working again will be the key to recovery, and that the 2010 budget can’t be just about cuts – it must be about jobs. While accepting a net reduction in the 2010 of nearly €4.1bn, we are proposing to dedicate €700m to a job creation fund in 2010, and €1,150m in a full year. The Jobs Fund will:
- Include half a billion euro for labour intensive capital projects in a full year
- Support businesses with targeted measures, such as PRSI relief for jobs created
- Provide 60,000 extra training and work experience places to give people the skills they need for the jobs they want.
- Be allocated by a Cabinet-level Jobs Taskforce
