The East Cork area has seen a significant drop in unemployment over the past year. The most recent figures available from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show an overall drop of 8% in live register figures in East Cork from October 2013 to October 2014.
“This month the national live register rate dropped to 11%, the lowest rate since 2009 when it was 15.1%. This is sign that the policies we are pursuing in government are helping our economy to recover. The Action Plan for Jobs launched in 2012 has been responsible for the creation of 70,000 jobs already so we are on track to meet our job creation target of 100,000 by 2016 ”, said David Stanton TD.
“While the national statistics are very encouraging I was particularly happy to see the most recent live register figures for the East Cork area which relate to numbers signing on in the Cobh, Midleton and Youghal Social Welfare Offices. In October 2013, there were a total of 5,666 people on the live register in East Cork however, this has dropped to 5,204, a reduction of 462 people, or 8% in one year. While this is significant, we still have a long way to go to get numbers down to previous levels during the Celtic Tiger era.
“Youghal and Midleton have seen quite substantial reductions in unemployment levels since last year with a drop of 11.5% and 9.8%, but Cobh, unfortunately, did not experience such a high reduction with just a 2.8% difference. Still is it promising that in every area of East Cork there are fewer people out of work than there were last year.
“The changes in the under-25 age group have been especially stark. High youth unemployment rates both here, and across Europe, have been very worrying in recent years and it is essential that we create an environment where young people are encouraged and supported to enter education, training or employment. Overall, there has been an impressive decrease in the number of young men and women aged under-25 years on the live register from October 2013 to October 2014. Youghal experienced a drop of 44.8% and Midleton a decrease of 37%.
“Live register figures have been falling consistently for many months and while I know, there is still a long way to go, I would hope that with a large range of employment, training, self-employment and education supports available with further measures introduced in the Budget that the numbers of people out of work will continue to fall.