Mr. Eamon Murphy:

The first thing to note is that employment figures have very much improved. The 2016 job growth figures were the best we have seen in a decade. That is very welcome, but the problem at this stage is less to do with job numbers and more to do with features of the labour market that are developing. They are looking more and more like becoming permanent features, some of which are very undesirable. Michelle spoke already about the incidence of low pay and precarious employment.

Long-term unemployment, which was mentioned by Senator Craughwell, is at this point and has been for several years at a rate greater than half of all unemployment. We have not seen levels like that since the mid-1990s, when the figures were first measured in that way. We published a quarterly employment monitor to look at trends like this. One of the key things we have pushed in the last few issues has been the incidence in which older people are affected by long-term unemployment. Workers older than 45 years of age are being disproportionately affected. For example, the proportion of the total number of unemployed people in the country at the moment made up by long-term unemployed people older than 45 years of age has quadrupled in the past six or seven years. The proportion of all older unemployed people who have been unemployed for more than a year is more than double what is was, which is fairly staggering.

Senator Craughwell asked whether we thought that this leads to longer-term problems. Some of the things that are associated with long-term unemployment include the obvious financial hardship, the potential loss of one's family and slipping into poverty. It can also involve increased mental health issues and an erosion of skills, which become obsolete, particularly for older workers who are less likely to be able to engage in retraining. It is a serious issue which, we believe, does not get enough attention. People are right to laud these employment figures, but behind them are some very undesirable features.

Another aspect we have been looking at is the regional employment trends and the extent to which the perception is being confirmed by the statistics that most of the benefits from the additional employment being created are being accrued in the eastern part of the country in Dublin and the surrounding counties, mainly Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. As somebody from the south west of the country, the Chairman will recognise that the region is struggling greatly and started from a very low base in comparison to the eastern side. The Border and western regions, in particular, have some of the most staggering statistics that we found. They are not actually related to employment numbers, but are more to do with labour force numbers. The rate at which the labour force has fallen in the western and Border counties is 20 times that of Dublin. That confirms the perception people have that in response to a mass lack of employment opportunities in these areas, people are reacting in the same way they always have, which is to emigrate, whether that is migrating to the eastern side of the country or leaving the country altogether. There is a massive social issue around that.

It also has repercussions in this part of the country as well. One of the best examples of what imbalanced growth will lead to is the rental report that Daft.iepublished earlier this week. Rents are at an all-time high, particularly in urban areas and in Dublin. This feeds back to what Deputy Durkan mentioned in respect of the cost of trying to house and raise a family while on low pay. It is prohibitive and is quite impossible in some circumstances, particularly when we look at some of the figures being charged for rent.

Many of the issues being generated here would be, if not quite solved, then certainly alleviated by bringing additional investment away from Dublin, which already accounts for roughly half of all economic activity in the country, and bringing it down to a more rural setting, with the focus on cities like Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford as economic hubs for the surrounding regions.