New figures released by the Central Statistics Office this week reveal that unemployment levels continue to rise. There has been a massive 95 per cent increase in the number of people claiming unemployment assistance on the same period last year. Currently, nationally, there are a staggering 388,600 people claiming assistance, up from 188,800 on the corresponding period last year. This means that the unemployment rate has more than doubled from 5.5 per cent this time last year to 11.4 per cent at present.
But what is more disturbing is the fact that young families in county Mayo are struggling to make ends meet as the recession takes hold. These people are the faces behind the statistics. But what the statistics do not reflect in many instances are those who were previously self employed but now do not qualify for unemployment assistance. There is another generation of workers, mostly connected to the construction industry, who were once proud, self employed, successful businessmen and women who can’t even join the dole queue. There is no incentive to be self employed in this country given the way these people are now being treated. That was the opinion of one self-employed man who spoke candidly to the Mayo Advertiser.
John (not his real name ) worked in the construction industry. He was an employee for eight years and an employer for eight years consecutively. In April 2008 he had no more work and was forced to cease trading. He went to the Department of Social Welfare with his employee to sign on. His employee was granted a social welfare payment of €198 per week, John was offered €6 per week. He didn’t accept the payment and appealed the decision and eventually, three months later in July, he was awarded €29.80. He was assessed every month in between to prove he was looking for work and had to present letters of rejection. In November his employee’s payment, who had no dependents, was also increased to €204. The extra €17 John received was for his two children. Having successfully appealed the €29.80 which he had been paid from July to November, the Department of Social Welfare paid John a backpayment to July for the difference.
But before John was finally granted the €221.10 he laid it on the line for Department officials that Christmas was coming. He did not have the money to provide for his wife and children and that he would be worth more dead. Two days later he got a letter of confirmation that his payment was being increased to €221.10.
Hindsight - no incentive to be self-employed
As well as never before receiving a State benefit, John also paid end of year tax of between €12,000 and €15,000 for every year he was self employed. “In hindsight, if I had known then what I had to go through last year, I would never have set up my own business. There is no incentive in this country to be self employed,” a despondent John told the Mayo Advertiser.
John’s case is just one, there are hundreds more similar and worse cases in Mayo according to Independent councillor and consumer law expert Michael Kilcoyne.
This is the first time that most of these people will have tasted financial hardship and the St Vincent de Paul in Mayo has seen an increase in numbers looking for assistance from them. Martin Waters told the Mayo Advertiser that while they are busy, they have not seen the “tidal wave” of people that they know is out there. “We are expecting a lot more to come to us towards August and September, back to school time,” said Mr Waters, who added that the generosity of the public in their last collection has meant the organisation can cope at present. But he is worried about how they will meet demand towards the end of this year. “It’s the people with loans and mortgages who seem to be worst affected,” he added.
“People are in desperate situations,” Cllr Kilcoyne told the Mayo Advertiser, he added that he is “extremely concerned” for a whole generation who worked hard and tried to make a living for themselves and their families but who are now facing hunger.
The unemployment figures for Co Mayo, which stand at 10,836 for the month of March (almost double the figure registered as unemployed for the same month last year ), are understated given the number of self employed people who are not getting a payment. Unfortunately they are not reflected on the Live Register statistics meaning the situation is far worse than is being reported. The April figures, which will be available next week, are expected to be even worse.
