“For the first time in eight years, there are more than two million people at work. This year, we will exceed our target of moving 20,000 people from long-term unemployment to work,” Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar said about the latest CSO figures showing that unemployment has fallen from a peak of 15% in 2011 to 7.9%.
The Minister also said “that employment has fallen to almost half what it was at the depths of the recession” and that he wishes to bring it down even further to between 5% and 6%.
The Department of Social Protection has a plan to move 100,000 people from welfare to work over the next five years and long-term unemployment is to be brought down to 2.5%.
The Department will also aim to encourage more one-to-one engagement by case officers with jobseekers through Intreo Centres and JobPath and matching employers with jobseekers through initiatives like JobsWeek, Careers Fairs and the Jobs Ireland website.
Other plans on the agenda to bring down the unemployment rate will include: making work pay through increases in wages and salaries that are sustainable and affordable, reductions in the USC and new social insurance benefits like paternity benefit.
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