Voters overlook economy as unemployment remains low- Indeed

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 4.8%, up from a revised rate of 4.7% for December, and down from a revised 5.1% 12 months ago. The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed fell by 4,000 between compared to a year ago.

Pawel Adrjan, an economist at global job site Indeed, comments on the latest CSO data:

“The labour market continues to be in good health, even with the slight increase in the unemployment rate this month, perhaps due to continuing concerns about the kind of Brexit that will be delivered. Forecasters predict that the unemployment rate will return to its declining trend through 2020, potentially falling as low as 4.4%.

Given that just 8 years ago the unemployment rate was 16% and the economy in crisis, it is surprising the extent to which its performance is playing such a small role in the ongoing General Election campaign. Polling shows that the economy is the most influential factor in deciding voting intentions for only 8% of people.

What is clear is that to meet the demands there are for more workers, any new Government is going to need to look to policies that will help bring down the barriers that are preventing certain demographic groups from benefiting from the growing economy and employment opportunities.

That means looking at family-friendly initiatives on childcare, and remote working opportunities, to help non-working parents who want to return to employment. It also means improved training programmes that will help provide young people and the long-term unemployed gain the skills they need to succeed in the modern Irish economy. Over a quarter of unemployed people are accounted for by the long-term unemployed meanwhile the youth unemployment rate is still high at 11.8%.

With the economy performing strongly, the new Government should aim to support a strong labour market with opportunities for all sectors of society.”