OECD on Employment in Ireland: the outlook is "grim"

Nat O'Connor: The OECD has just published its Employment Outlook 2009. The main site is here, and there is also a report on Ireland.

The OECD is predicting up to 15 percent unemployment by end-2010.

They state: "To avoid a return to the high and persistent unemployment of the 1980s and early 1990s, a key priority is to provide effective employment services to a rapidly rising pool of jobseekers and ensure that the most vulnerable of them do not lose contact with the labour market and drift into inactivity."

They also question "whether re-employment assistance to jobseekers is adequate to prevent the sharp recession from turning into a long-term unemployment crisis."

Could there be a worse time for FÁS to be in such disarray?

Posted in: Labour market • Fiscal policy • Labour market

Tagged with: unemployment • FÁS • oecd

Dr Nat O'Connor     @natpolicy

Nat O’Connor is lecturer in social policy in UCD’s School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice and part-time policy specialist at Age Action Ireland. Previously Director of TASC, Nat also led the research team in Dublin’s Homeless Agency.

He has taught politics and social policy since 1999. He has a PhD in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin and a MA in Political Science and Social Policy from the University of Dundee. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK), a member of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and chairperson of the Irish Social Policy Association (ISPA). You can find him on LinkedIn (natoconnor) and TwitterX @natpolicy