Dr. Ray Griffin:

We do not think there is a coherent experience of unemployment in Ireland. Each unemployed person is radically different and has his or her own life course. There is no coherent system for administering unemployment in social welfare offices. For example, the sanctioning rate in Wexford is 8% but in Waterford it is close to 1%. Even in very narrow geographic spaces one finds a huge experience. It incorporates people who have very vulnerable lives, people who have had very difficult lives and people who are transitioning from one job to another. The way we administer unemployment is called unemployment but the experience of it is another matter.

To clarify, we have conducted 121 interviews since 2012. We specifically do a tranche of people every second year. The 25 people that we encountered are the ones who naturally and specifically referenced JobPath as we interviewed them and they relayed their experience. It is a random sample. What is very interesting is that each one has consistently reported a negative experience. In the data set from 2012 to 2015 there was a much wider account of the experience of unemployment. Since then the situation has become more consistent. Instead of looking to themselves as not getting a job for personal reasons, people now rate their experience of unemployment as being a negative experience that is being administered to them by the State.