Search Results for 'Labour economics'

It is time for optimism. After so many years of bad news, the economy is growing again and growing strongly, with 80,000 new jobs have been created in the last 24 months and unemployment is at a five year low. Austerity budgets are over and this month will see the first tax cuts and income increases for families since the crisis hit in 2008.

Insider rarely tires of the vicissitudes of Galway politics. The city and county’s petty intrigues, feverish whisperings, internecine squabbles, and comical characters are usually enough to keep even the most amateur political observer entertained.

MEP for the North West, Jim Higgins, has welcomed continuing progress by the EU in addressing youth unemployment under its Europe 2020 strategy commitments, but says citizens want to see real results.

Labour’s election candidate in Kilkenny, Councillor Ann Phelan said that of the 450,000 people on the live register almost half are unemployed for a year or more.

Ireland has become a ridiculous country. We have seen health insurance hikes, increases in the cost of electricity, the introduction of the abominable Universal Social Charge, car insurance has gone up, interest rates continue to rise, petrol is on the up too. That is a lot of increases. So what has happened to counteract this continuous rise in the cost of living? Nothing. Instead the minimum wage has been cut, social welfare has been cut, the children’s allowance has been cut and there have been widespread redundancies. It is a ridiculous country really.

The new national minimum wage rate will come into effect on February 1 following the signing of the order on Wednesday by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe.

The seasonally adjusted Live Register total increased from 244,500 in September to 260,300 in October, an increase of 15,800, the latest figures from the CSO reveal.

Describing the latest unemployment figures for Longford/Westmeath as absolutely shocking, the Labour Party team said that the Government now had to recognise the rise in unemployment as a national crisis and begin to take some effort to stem the job losses and put people back to work.

The system that determines the pay and conditions for about 170,000 workers in the country is out of date, totally inappropriate for the current economic circumstances and in need of a radical overhaul, according to IBEC.