Jobless Numbers 'a National Emergency' - Union

Ireland's unions have said the continuing levels of high unemployment were a "national emergency", in response to official figures published on Tuesday.

The figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the number of people signing on fell by 3,200 to 439,600 last month.

It was the second monthly fall in a row while the unemployment rate also fell slightly to 14.2% from 14.3% in December.

The figures also found that more men stopped signing on than women, while the number of women on the Live Register increased by 3.3% over the past month while the number of men fell by 2.8%.

However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said there could be "no comfort" taken from the small fall in benefit claimants as this was "almost certainly accounted for by emigration and declining labour force participation".

Congress Economic Adviser Paul Sweeney said: "We can take no comfort from these figures. The level of unemployment in Ireland is so high that it really is a national emergency. And the growing numbers of long term unemployed revealed in the CSO data - up by a substantial 24,000 in just one year - is very worrying.

"The Government now has a real opportunity - by way the of its forthcoming Jobs Initiative - to tackle unemployment in a bold and dramatic manner. Crucially it must address the steep decline in domestic demand, now at 75% of its level it was at just four years ago. It is only by reversing the collapse in domestic demand that jobs will return to the Irish economy."

(DW)