Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 71: To ask the Minister for Finance the total number of permanent full-time jobs he believes will be created as a result of the jobs initiative. [14237/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Irish labour market remains very weak, with the latest figures revealing that the number of people on the live register and the standardised unemployment rate increased in May. These are obviously very disappointing developments, particularly as previous data had suggested that the unemployment rate had stabilised in the first four months of the year. Against this backdrop, the measures announced in last month's Jobs Initiative will provide modest support to the labour market by assisting in employment generation and creating an additional 21,000 places for training, education and upskilling. In particular, it will assist in employment generation in the services and construction sectors by improving our competitiveness position, stimulating demand and increasing sentiment. The introduction of a second reduced rate of VAT, for example, should have a significant impact on confidence and costs in the high value labour intensive tourism industry. Overall the measures should support the economic recovery by restoring moral, boosting confidence and encouraging consumers to spend.

It is very difficult to quantify the exact number of jobs that the Initiative will create, but the measures will play a role in supporting the labour markets recovery in the coming years. Positive net employment growth is forecast to return next year according to the most recent forecasts published by my Department. In total, net employment growth of around 100,000 is expected in the years 2012 to 2015.