Unemployed Numbers Down – But Why ?

The latest CSO press release on the quarterly Household Survey – highlights the fact that the number of unemployed people has fallen for the first time since 2005. They say that there were 324,500 persons unemployed in the third quarter of 2012 which is a decrease of 3,600 or 1.1% in the year.
This is being reported all over the place as positive news.

The number of people in emplyment has also dropped – by 4300 – so it doesn’t look like those unemployed people have obtained  jobs.

Further down the report we see that the overall labourforce has decreased in the year too.  The CSO figures show that the  total number of persons in the labour force in the third quarter of 2012 was 2,165,800. This represents a decrease of 7,900  over the year.

A proportion of those that have left the labourforce  have probably left the country – so it is  likely that some of the drop in unemployment is  because people have emigrated.

With the Budget , Property Tax and Water Charges on the way – how many more people will be emigrating in 2013 ?