Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Tóibín keeps repeating the myth that we are failing. In the past 12 months we have 20,000 additional people at work, net. If we remove from the equation the fact the public sector figures are declining, the private sector has expanded employment by 2,000 jobs per month. That is in sharp contrast to the economy we inherited where there was a loss of jobs of 7,000 per month. I recognise and it is clear that young people have been particularly adversely affected by the crash. The predominant share of the loss in employment occurred among young people. We must rebuild a sustainable economy and that is what we are doing. We are building an economy that is now supporting 20,000 additional jobs per year and we need to build further on that base.

I agree there is an unacceptably high level of youth unemployment. However, the 30% figure to whish the Deputy referred refers to 2012. The most up to date figure in that regard is now 26.7%. There has been an improvement. The improvement may not be enough, but it is an improvement in youth unemployment. The Deputy is correct that young people are not participating as early as previously in the labour market. There is definitely a drop in participation rates. This reflects changes. People are staying on in education and this is clear from statistics. People are staying out of the labour market to build extra skills.

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